St George’s Cricket Club have expressed their concerns over having to play Saturday’s First Division Twenty20 final against arch-rivals Somerset at Somerset Cricket Club.

Ryan Steede, the St George’s player-coach, said his players were “disgruntled” over the Bermuda Cricket Board’s decision to award Somerset’s home venue the final which they claim is “unfair”.

“My players are very disgruntled about it and are not happy at all,” Steede said. “My players do not think it’s fair and are not in agreement with it, it’s as simple as that.

“It’s their home ground and so it is an advantage for them as they get an opportunity to practise on the wicket and the field and get very familiar with the surroundings.

“The conditions and everything favours Somerset as it’s their home ground and maybe they [the BCB] should have considered it [the final venue] being a neutral ground.”

Incidentally, last season’s Premier Division Twenty20 final was played at Sea Breeze Oval where home side Bailey’s Bay beat Southampton Rangers by 21 runs.

Although his players have expressed their concerns over the final venue, Steede is confident the East Enders can prevail having beaten Somerset by 12 runs in their final group match at Somerset last weekend.

“My players are not pleased that the final is at Somerset but we beat them at their own field last weekend, so I told my players to turn a negative into a positive,” he said. “This is more incentive to beat Somerset and has pepped the boys up even more.

“This is the BCB’s decision to have the final up there at Somerset’s home field and we are just going to have to take on the challenge. We have a job to do and we are up for the challenge and we are confident we can go up there and win. The guys have put in the effort in training and the numbers have been excellent.

“The guys have been putting in the work challenging one another and are up for the challenge and hopefully we get the win on Saturday.

“We just have to go out there and apply ourselves and do what we have done to get to where we are. It’s just a matter of doing the same thing to get a piece of silverware under our belt.”

St George’s and Somerset will do battle for the First Division T20 title in the opening fixture at 11am to be followed by the Premier Division T20 final featuring last season’s finalists Bay and Rangers at 3pm.

n Meanwhile, the BCB has announced that BF&M has once again agreed to support the BCB Player Development League. The BF&M Player Development League is a 40-overs competition played on Saturdays.