two prominent Premier Division teams hit out at Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association for failing to supply officials for their opening matches.

"The BCUA need to get their act together. Starting off in this fashion is not helping the sport at all,'' said Police skipper Dennis Archer after no officials turned up for his team's April 28 game against Willow Cuts at Somerset Cricket Club.

Cuts' skipper Dexter Basden uttered similar sentiments, claiming that neglect at the start of the season wasn't a good sign.

"I was definitely disappointed. If there is a shortage we still could have at least had one person assigned to the game,'' said Basden.

"This is very concerning because we are talking about the top eight teams in the sport. In this particular case we were forced to go ahead and find people to act as umpires because no games are being rescheduled, and the two captains agreed to proceed this way. But it was definitely a poor start to the season.

What angered Archer was that a less important First Division game at nearby White Hill Field had the services of two umpires while the top clash between Cuts and Police was neglected. But other First Division matches also had to make do without official umpires.

Archer said he hoped that this wasn't a sign of things to come during the rest of the season.

"What was disturbing in this case was that this was one of the most competitive matches of the day and not a single umpire showed. They could have sent one up there if they knew there was going to be a problem,'' said the Police skipper.

He said the BCUA needed to make a more thorough check on the availability of their members, especially after so many failed to attend when a recent meeting was arranged with the various club captains at the Ministry of Youth Development, Sport and Recreation.

"At that particular meeting we had about 15 captains show up to discuss various points with the BCUA and only two umpires appeared, that wasn't a good sign at all,'' said Archer.

BCUA public relations officer Janet Todd yesterday confirmed that no umpire showed up for the Somerset game, but had no explanation as to why.

"All I can say is that one person was scheduled for that game. We have a shortage and the clubs and the BCBC are aware of it, there is nothing more I can say about it at this stage,'' said Todd.

Among those unavailable were George Francis, Alex Virgil, Jeff Pitcher, Mansfield Smith and Frank DeSilva -- but most of these and several others are believed to be ready to turn out in the near future, probably as early as this weekend.