Clay Smith bemoans lack of game time for St George’s ahead of Cup Match
St George’s coach Clay Smith has decried a lack of action for his team as they prepare for Cup Match.
Being eliminated from the Knockout Cup in the quarter-finals means St George’s were not in action last weekend and, with Bailey’s Bay in the final of that competition against Cleveland on Sunday, Smith’s plans have been thrown into disarray.
Smith had lined up trial matches, first against Bay at Sea Breeze Oval on Saturday and then a week later against
St David’s at Wellington Oval, but it now appears they will face only the latter with more than three weeks passing since their last match.
“This weekend’s game has been cancelled with Bailey’s Bay playing in the final of the Knockout Cup,’’ Smith said.
“We had planned to play them but that has been cancelled. We are in the process of seeing if we can reschedule another game but we need to avoid a clash with the final of the knockout competition so it looks like no game for another week.
“We are scheduled to play St David’s on July 15 at Wellington Oval. Ideally, we are hoping that it goes ahead and we did inform the cricket board of the plans because we are told they want to start T20 on that weekend.
“We have written to them and phoned them so that the Cup Match trials don't clash with the T20 schedule.
“Hopefully all that is in order, we play St David’s, and we then hold our final trials on July 29, with the team selected that evening.”
The BCB is prioritising the shorter format of the game this year as the island is preparing for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Regional Qualifier, which takes place on the island from September 28 to October 8.
St George’s have already selected a preliminary squad of 30 players for Cup Match but Smith feels that the entire fixture list needs overhauling if Bermuda are to see the best of his players.
“In my 30 years of playing cricket, having teams not playing any cricket in June and July is unheard of,’’ Smith said.
“The knockout has hindered our Cup Match preparations but we will make the best out of a bad situation.”
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