season just a couple of weeks old.

A shortage of qualified officials means the BCUA will struggle to provide umpires for all matches this weekend -- one of the busiest of the season with a full slate of Premier matches on both Saturday and Sunday.

But on top of that headache the association are also facing criticism for a shortlist of five they have drawn up for next month's ICC Trophy in Canada.

One Bermuda umpire will eventually be selected to travel for the three-week tournament and another will be put on stand-by.

Because the qualifications of three are said to be inferior to other regular and more seasoned officials, the BCUA's selection has come under fire.

The trio under question are Roger Dill, Steven Douglas and Lester Harnett.

Dill and Douglas officiated in last Sunday's Camel Cup final while Harnett umpired one of the semi-finals on Saturday.

The two other umpires recommended to Bermuda Cricket Board of Control for ICC duty are Randy Butler and George Francis.

Butler, secretary of the BCUA, was reluctant to comment on the recommendations, although he defended the association's decision, noting that all were capable officials.

"I don't want to make a big fuss over that issue,'' said Butler. "The BCBC didn't say they wanted West Indies Cricket Umpires Association qualified officials, and all of the five names sent in otherwise have decent qualifications.

"Mr. Dill, Mr. Douglas and Mr. Harnett are coming along fine, all have lots of potential and are hard-working officials who continue to make a huge contribution to the game of cricket in this Island.

"They certainly don't need this sort of criticism, and neither does any other umpire who continues to make strides and make themselves available for duty on a regular basis.'' But former BCUA president Wilbur Pitcher strongly disagreed. "I asked the executive committee in a meeting, how can three people be recommended who are not qualified? And they haven't answered me yet,'' he said.

"How can you put them over qualified people like Dennis Raynor, myself and Mahdee Shabbaz who all have been qualified for a long time? I think it is wrong. It's not sour grapes, I am just reacting to something that is basically downright wrong.

"It is something that should not have happened. We may as well go into the street and randomly pick people. How can you overlook people who have gone out and gotten the top qualifications only to be ignored.'' Pitcher said he would not be among those officiating this weekend because he would be abroad. But he revealed that he was undecided about whether or not to officiate at all this season.

"Right now I don't know if I will be involved in umpiring this season, this selection process has knocked the sting out of me for the moment especially when they have refused to give me an answer to my question,'' he added.

Butler, meanwhile, admitted he would be "scrambling'' to find umpires for this weekend, but expected the full slate of matches to go ahead as scheduled.

He reckoned that more would be known after last night's meeting, when he would get chance to question the availability of members for the back to back fixtures.

"I haven't started to work on scheduling for the weekend yet, but we should know more about the situation after our meeting,'' said Butler.

"The truth of the matter is that some of the games will have one umpire. I don't think that any games will be put off because of a lack of officials. If no umpires are at a game, the responsibility lies on the clubs to find their own people to officiate.

"But we will obviously be depending on many umpires to do back to back games on Saturday and Sunday. I know that some don't like doing this but since it's not extremely hot right now, maybe some will offer themselves for both days.''