Challengers Bailey’s Bay head into their Eastern Counties first round clash against holders Cleveland County with a cloud of controversy hanging over their heads.

It centres around the surprise omission of key guest player Zeko Burgess in the build-up to today’s series opener at Lord’s.

According to reliable sources, the experienced fast bowler’s omission stems from a personal fallout with the club. This has been denied by Bay captain Terryn Fray.

“From what I understand there was no fallout with Zeko and the club. The club is trying to go in a direction where we are attempting to lean towards more of our home-grown players, and his like for like was Macquille Walker,” he told The Royal Gazette.

“We debated his omission from what we believed is a forward-moving direction from the club, and other than that I think Zeko and the club’s standing is fine.”

Burgess declined to comment.

Among those surprised to see the St George’s Cup Match and Bermuda stalwart dropped from the challenger’s squad is Cleveland captain Mackih McGowan.

“Zeko he has been a dominant force in the Eastern Counties for them for quite some time, so to see them not take him was a bit of a surprise,” he said.

“But even though he is not in the team we are taking nothing for granted.”

McGowan said he and his fellow team-mates are well prepared for the challenge of defending their title against Bay, whom they dethroned in the second round of last year’s series.

“We have been training for the past 3-5 weeks for counties with the same intensity that we had last year for this game. We have the cup but we’re going in like we don’t have the cup, and it’s a game that we just need to win and stay focused on,” he added.

“We’re just going in with the same mentality that we had last year when we first went up against Bay. Cleveland’s mentality is always playing with heart, playing with fire and playing for the community.”

Cleveland have made one change to the side that drew with St David’s in the final round last year, with Damali Bell brought in for the retired Dion Stovell.

“Dion will definitely be a great miss,” McGowan said.

“His skill and knowledge on the field is always better, but he has left that with us and has actually been at some training sessions talking with us and what not.”

One player Cleveland will be hoping to see continue their sparkling form of late is vice-captain and wicketkeeper Steven Bremar Jr, who has struck back-to-back hundreds in his previous two trips to the crease.

“Steven has been dialled in this year,” McGowan said.

“Last year he was actually coaching the team up until we was able to get Herbie Bascome to help out just to kind of take that stress off of him.

“This year he has been able to focus just on his cricket and that’s been the mindset that he’s had all season. He has a goal that he wants to accomplish and just wants to carry on that form.”

Fray is bracing himself for another tough outing against Cleveland as he and his team-mates seek to avenge a 61-run loss to the Harris Bay side in the previous meeting between the teams in the competition.

“I think this is a good opportunity for the guys to try and regain the cup,” he said.

“It was obviously disappointing how we played last year in the fashion which we lost. So we are just coming with the hunger to regain that trophy and play to the highest of our potential, knowing if we do that we can be victorious.

“We aren’t taking them lightly. We understand the quality that they bring; the fight, the heart. They are a very difficult team to beat.”

Bay have made three changes to their team from last year, with Azendé Furbert, Jarryd Richardson and Burgess making way for Sinclair Smith, Dennico Hollis and Michael Agard.

Action gets under way today at Lord’s at 10am.

Meanwhile, the domestic 50 overs campaign continues tomorrow.

In the Premier Division, Bay will host Somerset at Sea Breeze Oval, Southampton Rangers face St George’s at Southampton Oval while St David’s take on Warwick at Lord’s.

First Division action will see PHC host Somerset Bridge at PHC Field and Devonshire taking on Flatts at Devonshire Rec.

All fixtures start at 10.30am.