Disappionted and disillusioned, Irving Romaine is on the verge of quitting cricket.

The former Bermuda captain revealed he was planning on quitting the international scene after next year's qualifiers in Dubai, and after the events of the last few weeks might now quit playing altogether, so he can concentrate on coaching.

Romaine's valiant 95 against Southampton Rangers wasn't enough to stop his Bailey's Bay side losing the chance to win their first title since 1998 yesterday. And internal politics may be about to drive the Bay stalwart out of a club he has been a part of for almost two decades.

"Basically I was looking at retiring (from international cricket) after the qualifiers in April," said Romaine, "(now) maybe even league cricket altogether.

"I'll have to do some soul searching and really think if I'm going to play league cricket next year.

"The last five years of playing international cricket has been stressful, on the go, every tour, training every day. And dealing with the things that have been happening internally in the club, it takes a lot out of you.

"And its another thing to think about, as well as playing on the field, it's really stressful."

Despite repeated denials to the contrary from Bay officials, Stephen Outerbridge and Cory Hill have been banned for 18 months and a year respectively. Both have received letters stating this, again club officials deny this to be the case.

There is a petition being sent around the club, which spectators and players alike have signed, demanding the reinstatement of Outerbridge and Hill before the final round of the Eastern Counties in two weeks time.

Players also spent 45 minutes locked in the dressing room after yesterday's defeat discussing the ban which was handed down by executive members Chris Smith, Bobby Smith, Sinclair 'Sinny' Smith, and Debra Crockwell. The club have repeatedly refused to comment.

Romaine though said he'd been considering retiring before yesterday's game, and was disappointed that he could not go out with a bang.

"It's very disappointing (the defeat)," he said. "Our youngsters, the inexperienced ones, they crumbled under pressure today.

"The fielding was terrible, we dropped about six catches, you can't win matches like that if you drop catches.

"It's hard, my career is coming to an end. Winning this league was definitely important to me. It hurts hard because I wanted to retire on top."

He isn't going just yet though, he has unfinished business with the national team, and if he can't go out on a high with his club, he's going to make sure he does with his country.

"I definitely want to help Bermuda qualify in April, I'm looking forward to a couple more international hundreds, I'm shooting for that. I was just really hoping for the league this time, I really pushed everyone for it."