The Bermuda Cricket Board has turned down a request by St David’s to sign Kevin Hurdle on loan from Flatts on the grounds that he is not a fringe player.

But yesterday Otis Minors, the St David’s president, hit back at the decision, calling it a “personal thing” and vowed to appeal.

Hurdle was banned by the BCB for a year in the summer of 2012 for an altercation that forced a First Division match between Flatts and Western Stars to be abandoned.

Steede, the chairman of the cricket committee, confirmed that the loan had been rejected on the grounds that the intention of the loan system is very clear, to help fringe players get valuable playing experience at another club. Three players, Ronald Gibbons, Garnell Hollis and Keyshe Robinson, have had loan requests approved this week.

“The loan process is designed for fringe players to get an opportunity to get some match experience instead of sitting around, registered to a club and not having the opportunity to play,” Steede said. “Also, it helps out a club in the beginning of the season whose numbers are temporarily down for one reason or another.

“Once the loan period is up or the team they are registered for needs them back, the fringe player is in a better position to contribute to their team because they have been playing cricket during the first six week period.”

Hurdle, the former Bermuda fast bowler, saw the move to St David’s as crucial in helping him resurrect his international career, but now will have to wait until the end of June in order to get a late transfer to St David’s.

“I just think it’s total rubbish, the cricket board didn’t even give a fair judgement on Hurdle’s behalf,” Minors said.

“The way the document is done up is that the two clubs have to come to an agreement on the player, Flatts allowed it and St David’s put in our request so the two clubs were in favour of it. The committee, chaired by Nyon Steede, made the decision that Kevin Hurdle wouldn’t come to St David’s.

“My cricket chairman [Sammy Robinson] informed me late last night what had taken place and I told him we will do our best to get this situation sorted out.”

Hurdle, who played for Bermuda in the 2007 World Cup, has been training with St David’s for the past two weeks in the hope of playing for the club, possibly making his debut in this weekend’s Belco Cup semi-final against Cleveland. Now the move has been delayed for about six weeks, much to the disappointment of both the player and the league champions.

“I think it’s a personal issue, a punishment on him more than anything,” Minors said. “He wanted to play for a top team and get recognised, now that the league is divided into two divisions this year. He made the decision, his club was accepting and we wanted him to come, now we’ve got to wait until the end of June when he will be a late transfer. We think it was very unfair on him, and us, too.”

But Steede is standing by the decision, which, he says, is aimed to prevent abuse of the loan system. “Non-fringe players are not eligible for loan to avoid the misuse of the loan system,” he said.

“The loan system was not intended as a loophole for players who have missed the first transfer date to play while they wait for the late transfer period time to play [after six weeks].

“It was made very clear last year to the clubs at a meeting to discuss the roll out of the loan system what the intent was. There were two clubs that brought up the issue of teams using the loan system to get a strong player(s) [who we the cricket committee would consider a non-fringe player] to help increase their chances of beating a close rival team and thus trying to abuse the loan system to gain an advantage.

“That is why we made the intent of the loan system very clear. Essentially, Bermuda national team players, Cup Match players and players that played at the elite level are automatically considered non-fringe players as these players can considerably change the outcome of a match by significantly enhancing an already strong team.”