ST. George's fans must be wondering what has become of one of their once formidable cricket club, after watching and reading about the team's humiliation at the hands of St. David's last Sunday when they were bowled out for just 28 in a Premier Division game.

Even St. David's coach George Cannonier was saddened by what he saw of the team he coached for the last four years. Cannonier, who was forced to play a few games for the club in his 50s because the team was sometimes short, isn't totally surprised at the team's decline and knows where the problems lie ¿ lack of commitment to training ¿ and that was what prompted him to resign in frustration.

What he saw on Sunday was not totally surprising, but shocking nonetheless. "I was surprised at the low score," said the St. David's coach.

"Í told the St. David's players before the game that these guys don't train and there is no way they should be competitive. We train regularly and they (St. David's players) just went out there on the field and played with a lot of determination.

"The worst part about it was that it was Oronde's (Bascome) first game as captain and they just had a makeshift team. You can't run off your talent forever, eventually better teams will come along and outplay you."

Not one St. George's player reached double figures as they were dismissed in 21.5 overs. St. David's reached their target in just 3.4 overs.

"I think winning the toss had a lot to do with it," said Cannonier, trying to find an excuse for the losers. "The wicket was hard and fast and had a lot of grass on it and our pace bowlers just went right through them. Their shot selections were all wrong. I was disappointed as far as Oronde was concerned because even he has a laid-back attitude."

During the 1980s and '90s St. George's established themselves as one of the island's top teams, first winning the Knockout Cup under Clevie Wade and then going on to further success with several league and cup trophies under Wendell Smith's shrewd captaincy.

However the team has been in decline for several years and now they look to be going the way of previous top clubs before them such as Bailey's Bay, Western Stars, Southampton Rangers, Police and Devonshire Rec. who were the top teams in the 1980s before dropping out of the top division.

St. George's have lost their first three matches and while they were good enough to finish in the top four last season and secure another Belco Cup spot (they meet St. David's next Saturday), indications are they are certain to be relegated if things don't turn around quickly. There seems to be no respect within the current team to what was achieved before them.

"I was there for four years and in the first year we had a wonderful pre-season training and did pretty good that season, coming second," Cannonier recalled.

"But training dwindled down to two players, Troy Hall was always there and maybe one other who wasn't a regular in the team. I would set up drills and eventually nobody came out to training. I didn't feel like claiming a cheque for doing nothing. I can be a coach and just go along with the programme but that wasn't enough for me, I wanted to do something more. I had planned to leave sooner but decided to stick it out and see if things got better, but instead of getting better they got worse."

Cannonier added: "It was a hard decision for me to make which is why I hung in there for at least two years more, with Cup Match and everything. It is a prestigious position, Cup Match coach, but I had to sacrifice all of that because I wasn't doing anything over there. I don't know if it was me or just the players not interested."

It didn't take Cannonier long to win his first trophy back as coach of St. David's and now they are favourites to add a second when they contest the Belco Cup next weekend.

"I use that as a factor now with St. David's, I tell them all you have to do is train and you will have the edge of any team because these teams are not training regularly," said Cannonier.

"It's entirely different, sometimes I have more (players) than I can handle over at St. David's. We have a nice youth programme and these guys see that they can get into this first team. I'm eager to expose them so that we can keep our programme running.

"Last night we had five of the juniors out training and they are very keen to get into the team, it's very competitive down here and the senior guys have to hold their end, otherwise they will be replaced. I have an unspoken policy that we rotate the fringe players."

That should guarantee continuity while the club continues to pursue honours. The lack of a strong youth programme has caused other clubs to falter once the established players bowed out. It happened to Devonshire Rec. and now Western Stars are falling on hard times, though Rec. are slowly climbing back to the top having been promoted to the top division along with Police last season.

"You can see the trend, it's right before you and you can fashion your programme according to that," Cannonier warned adding that Devonshire Rec. have suffered as well.

"I admired Devonshire Rec's teams, they were always top class and now they are struggling because they didn't invest in a youth programme. That's our goal, to keep the young players coming through."

Cannonier is hoping St. George's can turn their fortunes around and be competitive this season.

"I'm hoping they'll be able to upset a few teams," he said. "They can't let this discourage them, they need to keep going. In fact this should encourage them to come out and train. I'm hoping they can bounce back, they have a lot of good players over there. They have big games to look forward, so there is no excuse not to train."

Cannonier thinks the appointment of Bascome as captain is a good move, after frustration forced Ryan Steede to quit the post.

"He was appointed last year in fact, but his schooling didn't allow him to be here for every game so he was denied it," said Cannonier. "I think it's a good position for him because he has the youth and experience and they all respect him over there. He is very keen on his game, but he also needs to train and be on top of his game a little more. Those guys are too laid back.

"I don't feel overwhelmingly happy about the way we won. I still feel a sense of guilt because people are blaming me for leaving St. George's in that situation. I really had no choice ¿ I put down certain recommendations and nothing was done about it. It's a cricket club but it seems football is more important to them. It was just time for me to leave. I just got tired of waiting around doing nothing."

Action this weekend sees Cleveland hosting Somerset at Wellington Oval, Devonshire Rec. at home to Southampton Rangers and St. David's entertaining Police at Lord's in the three Premier Division matches.

In the First Division, Leg Trappers meet Flatts at Police Field, PHC take on Western Stars at White Hill Field, Willow Cuts are at home to Warwick and Bailey's Bay host Somerset Bridge .