Bailey's Bay 188-4 St. David's 191-6 A bold declaration may have backfired but Bailey's Bay captain Charlie Marshall stood by his decision in the Eastern Counties final at Lord's on Saturday.

Marshall deliberately left St. David's with plenty of time to get the runs, knowing that keeping the game wide open might just give his team a chance of an upset. But on the best batting wicket of the series, St. David's -- left with 65 overs to score 189 -- won comfortably with less than four overs remaining as they finished as champions for the second year.

The game, however, was marred by controversy as Bay colt Jim West was called by both umpires for throwing, having already taken two wickets, and had to be taken off by skipper Marshall, who later lashed out at the officials.

Lionel Cann sealed the victory with a six over long-on off Dennis Pilgrim.

Clay Smith was not out on 25 while O.J. Pitcher scored 20.

"Our plan was to bat no longer than 50 overs because we didn't want to put ourselves in a position where we only had 40 or 30 overs to bowl at St.

David's,'' said Marshall afterwards.

"We knew we needed to give them enough time to go after the runs and also give ourselves enough time to get them out.'' Sent in to bat, Bay were only scoring at less than three runs an over for the majority of their innings, having just 57 on the board after 25 overs and then 104 by the 40th. However, thanks to some big hitting by Clarkie Trott, they scored 57 in the final eight overs before the declaration came at 2.25 p.m.

after batting for 53 overs.

Trott's unbeaten 55 came from only 37 balls in 46 minutes and included five sixes and a four. He and Irving Romaine (23 not out) put on 76 for the unbroken fifth wicket in 10 overs.

Earlier Noel Gibbons celebrated his 30th anniversary as an Eastern Counties player with 58 in his final innings. Coming in at number three in the seventh over, Gibbons batted for 145 minutes and hit six fours in his 58 which, along with his one for 22 from eight overs, earned him the man-of-the-match award.

Gibbons and colt Desmond Crockwell (23) added 61 for the second wicket after Crockwell lost his opening partner, Dexter Basden, to Herbie Bascome when the score was 10. Bascome took two for 48 from 16 overs.

"I was impressed with our batters, between Noel, Clarkie and Irving, they put us in an excellent position,'' said Marshall.

"If we had batted any longer they (St. David's) would have become very defensive and we would have been struggling. We had to bowl them out.'' Marshall admitted he would have batted first on what looked a good batting strip. In the end it proved so with only 10 wickets falling during the day.

"When I first saw the wicket I knew it would be a challenge if we sent St.

David's in first,'' said the captain.

"I just wanted to get my runs first, keep them in the sun for a while and see if we could capitalise by bowling from behind.'' Bay enjoyed some early success when Allen Richardson was trapped lbw by Clarkie Trott in the fifth over. A second wicket stand of 70 between Landro Minors and Albert Steede rebuilt the innings, though Bay were lifted again with Minors' wicket in the 29th over for 22. The 15-year-old Minors was voted player-of-the-series afterwards.

Steede departed in the 34th over for 47 when he was brilliantly stumped by Romaine who had just taken over the wicketkeeping duties from the injured Crockwell.

Teenager West, wicketless in his first spell from the northern end, returned from the club end and immediately got Chris Foggo and Sammy Robinson in the same over to make it 127-5. However, the 16-year-old was involved in controversy after that as in his next over he was called three times by square leg umpire Lester Harnett for throwing.

After completing the over West was moved to his original end where, this time, Francis also no-balled him three times. A clearly confused West, who has never been called for throwing before, struggled to change his action and eventually managed to finish the over before being taken off.

Harnett explained afterwards that West's action was suspect as he tried to bowl faster and after close scrutiny did not hesitate to call him. Marshall was clearly not happy.

"I was very disappointed because he bowled six overs in his first spell and no one called him for no-balls,'' said Marshall who approached Harnett on the field.

"I think what started it was spectators who were shouting out `this kid's throwing the ball' and that's when the umpires started paying attention. This kid just played in the youth tournament and bowled extremely well and Mr Harnett and the rest of the umpires saw him bowling and didn't call him then? "Why did they wait for him to get two wickets for me and then start calling no-ball? The inconsistency is what I'm very upset about. He's been bowling for me about three or four years and hasn't done anything different.'' Marshall vowed to take a closer look at the youngster's action in training this week, but he expected West to bounce back.

"I'll take a good look at it during the week and see what's happening, but I'm very concerned about the inconsistency of the umpire.'' said Marshall.

"This is a young kid. What are they trying to do, ruin him? "He's confused because he knows he's been bowling like this all this time and his action hasn't changed. All he said to me is `Charlie, I don't understand why they are calling me for chucking'.'' West's loss was crucial, said Marshall, as he was just starting to find his line and length. He was the pick of the Bay bowlers, taking two for 27 from eight overs with three maidens while Clarkie Trott laboured for 18 overs and finished with one for 31 with eight maidens. Spinner Stephen Outebridge got the other wicket.

Man of the Match: Noel Gibbons, appearing in his 30th and final Eastern Counties series, bade farewell with a lusty knock of 58 and bowling figures of one for 22.

Photos by Ras Mykkal No ball! Sixteen year-old colt Jim West is no-balled for throwing by umpire George Francis, adding to Bailey's Bay's woes in Saturday's Eastern Counties final.