Police Cricket Club will take no part in the 2010 season.

The club delivered a letter to the Bermuda Cricket Board yesterday morning informing them of their decision and asking that any future correspondence be addressed to the Commissioner of Police.

With rumours of the team's demise circulating the Island for some time, the cricket board had taken the unusual step of writing a letter to Police asking them to clarify their position for the coming season.

The BCB would not confirm the contents of the letter or that of the reply, but would only say that the Board had received a reply to a communication sent to Police CC earlier this month.

"It's very difficult, and it's a prickly subject," said one club member.

"At this time I prefer to say nothing on this subject but we shall not be having a team this year.

"The letter informs the BCB of that, and says that any future correspondence check with the Commissioner of Police, that's who we come under. But we'll be putting out no teams at all this year."

While Police officials were unwilling to comment publicly on the situation yesterday, privately they acknowledged that there were problems within the club.

And a row over the future of Police Field is also believed to have played its part in the unprecedented decision to fold for the season.

In a firm exchange of e-mails in September last year, which have been seen by The Royal Gazette, Police Cricket Club official Inspector Phil Lewis, and an as yet unidentified second party, Lewis refused to support the proposed redevelopment of Police Field so that it could also be used for soccer and rugby on a more frequent basis.

That redevelopment, which is now expected to occur this summer, is believed to involve digging out the current pitch, which has got progressively worse over the years, and also cutting back the steep grass bank on one side in preparation for a new clubhouse to be built at some stage in the future.

Lewis pointed out that cricket and soccer had long been the established sports that required exclusive use of the field during their seasons.

And he noted that the cricket board had only recently invested money in the use of the field as it has become one of the league's most used venues.

In an e-mail reply the second party told Lewis that favouritism had been shown to the cricket club.

He believed Bermuda Rugby Football Union and other sports were also interested in investing in the field.

Lewis, meanwhile, has denied that his opposition to the proposal and the redevelopment generally, was the reason for the club pulling out of this season's competition, and even suggested that he hadn't written the e-mail in the first place.

"That has nothing to do with this decision," he said. "I don't know who sent you that, honestly, it wasn't written by me.

'Even if that was written by me, it was written some time ago, and it has noting to do with this decision.

"We (Police Cricket Club) have some problems, but I'm not prepared to elaborate on them."