One of the architects of Somerset Cricket Club’s famous 1979 Cup Match victory will be laid to rest during a funeral service at St James Church today.

Family, fellow club members and friends will pay their respects to Albert “Bert” Zuill Philpott, who served on the selection committee that picked Somerset’s victorious team that beat St George’s by 141 runs at Somerset Cricket Club, to put an end to a 20-year drought in the classic.

“It’s always sad when you lose someone who has made a significant contribution so it’s a loss, not only to the Somerset Cricket Club family, but the entire Sandys community,” Alfred Maybury, the Somerset Cricket Club president, said.

“He gave great service and was a great family man, and he’s going to be a loss for the club as an organisation because you have a resource that’s no longer there.

“He was a part of our management team way before my time. But it’s because of people like him we have what we have today, and so we thank not only him, but also his family for allowing him, or working with him, while he served the Somerset Cricket Club and the Sandys community at the same time.

“Death is a part of life and so moving forward we will continue to remember those who have played a significant role in the establishment and development of Somerset Cricket Club.”

Philpott first served as Somerset’s bar chairman before serving on the club’s Cup Match selection committee.

“Bert worked on the ‘Queen of Bermuda’ and brought his expertise to the club where he became bar chairman for some time,” Reggie Pearman, the former Somerset Cricket Club and Bermuda Cricket Board president, said.

“He made a good contribution as bar chairman during the club’s heyday before serving on the selection committee during the 1970s.

“This is definitely a big loss for the club and the community because he was also the last surviving member of the first Long Distance Comet Race that they had in 1945.”

During his stint on Somerset’s Cup Match selection committee Philpott encouraged Charlie Marshall and Noel Gibbons, his nephews, to try out for the club.

“I tried out for Somerset in ‘79 and he [Philpott] was on the selection committee at that same time, but Randy Horton [the Somerset captain] encouraged me to go away with Bermuda to the International Youth Tournament in Canada instead which I did,” said Marshall, who led Bermuda to victory at that tournament.

“He was one of the reasons why I went to Somerset in 1979 to try out for Somerset because he encouraged me to come up.

“He also wanted Noel to be a part of Somerset’s Cup Match team, but that also did not work out. Up until his death he always spoke about how he couldn’t get one of his nephews to play for Somerset when he was on the selection committee.”

Gibbons and Marshall went on to make their mark in Cup Match for St George’s, the latter smashing a six off the last ball of a rain-affected match at Wellington Oval in 1980 to become the first colt to score a century on their debut.

“Robert Hinds bowled this delicious ice-cream ball and I had no other choice but to hit him outside over midwicket,” Marshall said.