Bailey's Bay captain Charlie Marshall has leapt to the defence of his young seam bowler, Jim West, saying he is still not convinced the teenager's action is illegal.

And he has also slammed St. David's captain Clay Smith who brought the matter to the attention of the umpires during Saturday's Eastern Counties final.

Smith admitted he suggested to George Francis and Lester Harnett that they take a closer look at West's action.

Though he bowled his first six overs without being called, West was then `no-balled' a total of six times in two overs after switching to the other end and claiming the wickets of Chris Foggo and Sammy Robinson.

"I felt what he (Smith) did -- bringing it to the umpires' attention -- was wrong and it wasn't the right time,'' said Marshall.

"He doesn't realise what he has done to this young kid, he has disturbed him and his family. Clay mentioned at the prize presentation and even on the radio how he was trying to encourage the youth to do well but what he did was wrong.'' Callers to a radio talk show on Monday were also critical of West which, Marshall says, was discouraging to the 16-year-old. A photo of West in Monday's Royal Gazette , showing a bent arm, prompted some of those calls.

Other players' actions have also come into question this season.

"Clay forgets that since he has been over at St. David's he has played Dale Fox and somebody mentioned on the radio that Dale Fox throws, so why didn't he mention that to the umpires?,'' Marshall asked.

"What Clay has done is label this young kid. If Clay was going to bring it to their attention why didn't the umpires come to me as captain and say that he is throwing the ball?'' Marshall said he was approached by Harnett about another young bowler's suspect action in a league match recently.

"I would tell them if my youngsters are bowling no-balls please call them because that is the only way they are going to learn,'' said Marshall.

"So why didn't he approach me like he approached me in the league match? What they have done is label this kid but I'm going to make sure he bounces back from this.

"Whenever we have youngsters trying to do well there is always somebody trying to bring them down. The picture that was in the newspaper, I saw his bent elbow, yes, but the ball hadn't been delivered.

"I'm not going to support the picture that was in the paper because by the time he delivered the ball the arm could have been straight.'' Marshall also took a swipe at the talk show callers. "The individuals who were talking negative about Jim West, I encourage them to come to training this week and help him out if they are that sure he was throwing the ball.

"Most of them weren't even at the game.

"Bojangles (Mansfield Smith) was also on the talk show but he has umpired about 40 percent of our games this year and why didn't he call Jim West for throwing? "Or is he just supporting his son (Clay) after he mentioned that he was throwing the ball?''