Leroy (Tubby) Richardson has been counting, and ''if the Lord provides'', next Thursday and Friday will be the 66th consecutive Cup Match that he has witnessed.

And the former St. George's captain doesn't just turn out regularly for the biggest cricket match of the year. Even at the age of 80, he is regular fixture at cricket games around the Island, relaxing with the chair and umbrella he takes with him.

Sitting in the same spot at Wellington Oval he will occupy both tomorrow for the final trial match - he plans to be there about 7 a.m. to secure it - and next week when the curtain comes down on the 100th Cup Match, Mr. Richardson talked about his passion for the game and what Cup Match means to him. "I don't consider myself as being a great cricketer, but I did classify myself as being a nuisance cricketer," said Mr. Richardson.

"My job was to upset batsmen and, or, bowlers, but mostly from bowling and fielding. I played in 11 Cup Matches, as a stock bowler to quiet batsmen down.

"My batting was never really outstanding. In 1943, my first Cup Match here at Wellington, in the first innings we made 176 runs and Cocky Steede and myself scored 33 each." Added Mr. Richardson: "In 1944 I made the winning hit here when we needed 21 to win and lost three wickets. Sheldon Darrell and I were batting when we needed one run to win and I pushed it to mid-on and we ran three. It was the first time St. George's had won the cup since 1938. "Then in 1945 one of the highlights of my career was batting for two hours and 25 minutes for 35 runs. When I went in it was two out for three runs and when I got out it was seven out for 75 and at the end of the (drawn) game it was 103 for seven." Charlie Marshall, the only player to score a century on his debut (1980), will have the honour of leading out the St. George's team on the occasion, but not many people know that 50 years ago Mr. Richardson, as he is respectfully known around the club, was the St. George's captain in the 50th Cup Match and then the Golden anniversary match the following year. In all Mr. Richardson played in 11 Cup Matches (1941-46 and then '51-55) and captained the team four years between '51 and '54.

The former captain batted just about everywhere in the order, and even put himself in as opening batsman on one occasion to show his players he was prepared to lead from the front. But he was more known as a right arm slow to medium bowler who developed the googly. In his debut year the St. George's selectors dropped top bowler Alec (Cocky) Steede to make way for him, the same 'Cocky' Steede who tormented Somerset batsmen for two decades on his way to becoming the first bowler to take 100 wickets in Cup Match.

"The thinking was that no one ever heard of a googly bowler in Bermuda at that time and with that development it may just work against (Alma) Champ Hunt (Somerset's top batsman),'' explained Mr. Richardson.

"Bosun Swainson was captain and he (Hunt) was banging everybody but eventually he gave me the ball and on the fifth ball I tossed him the googly and he went on the back foot to make a defensive stroke and I galloped down the crease and took a dive full length and caught him out.

"My arm was all grazed and stomach was messed up, because at that time it was on concrete wickets. When they gave me the ball the scoreboard read 129 for six but when he got out it was 129 for seven. Last man 104! I only got two wickets that game, he and his brother Delbert." A knee injury he suffered on Boxing Day 1946 while playing soccer - he didn't have the operation until 1949 - kept Mr. Richardson out of Cup Match for a few years. Also in 1949 he lost the little finger on his left hand as a result of an accident with a carpenter's machine.

Mr. Richardson returned to playing in 1950 when he was elected as vice captain under Clarence (Jigger) Smith, but three weeks before Cup Match he suffered a groin injury while fielding to his own bowling and was again ruled out. Mr. Richardson returned in 1951 to replace the retiring Mr. Smith as captain and led the team to a seven-wicket victory. Next week's 100th match will be exactly 50 years to the date (August 2 and 3) that he made his debut as a Cup Match captain. "And in 1952 on the Golden anniversary we were victorious by nine wickets," pointed out Mr. Richardson, who also had a draw and a loss in his four years as captain.

Lately there has been some dispute as to the 100th Cup Match and anniversary. The match started in 1902 so this year marks 100 matches while next year is the 100th anniversary of the classic. Certainly the game has made tremendous changes over the last 50 years, with turf wickets replacing concrete and matting 30 years ago in 1971. The game has also become more commercial with top local companies now getting behind the Island's biggest sporting event. "Without a doubt the commercialisation is outstanding compared to those days. You never heard of anything as sponsorship," said Mr. Richardson who can recall when the two days of Cup Match were not a holiday at all and before he started playing he used to work in the mornings of both days before going to the match to watch. During his days as a full-time soldier during the war in the 1940s he was privileged by 'excused duty' to play in Cup Match.

It was also in the mid-1940s that players were given 'out of pocket expenses' to play in Cup Match so as not to jeopardise their amateur status as professionals were not supposed to play in Cup Match. Nowadays the players' are compensated quite well for two days of cricket. Mr. Richardson, his memory still sharp, calculated 32 players from St. George's and 34 from Somerset that he played with and against in Cup Match in the 1940s and '50s, household names like Bosun Swainson, Cocky Steede, Fred (Bullar) Darrell, Clarence (Jigger) Smith, Norwood (Brodie) Smith, Andy Smith, Wellington (Buster) Smith, Kenny Smith, Wilbur Burgess, Irving Pascoe, Sam Paynter, Carlton Welch, Clarence Simmons, Cecil Dismont, Lloyd James, George Dyer, Calvin (Bummy) Symonds and Alfred (Fleas) Hall. For Somerset, there were players like Amon, Champ, Eric and Delbert Hunt, Arthur Durrant, Arnim (Sam Porgy) Smith, Nathaniel, Nathan and Joe Proctor, Ray Horton, Nigel (Chopper) Hazel, Earl Hazel, McDonald Simmons, Anthony Roberts, Kenny Maybury, Timmy Edwards, Austin (Cheesy) Hughes, Eugene Woods, Charles (Buckjuice) Swan, Charles Daulphin and Sheridan Raynor.

Mr. Richardson followed in the footsteps of his father, Robert, who captained St. George's in Cup Match. The record books don't show the exact years but he says 1922 was definitely one year his father led the team...the same year his mother died. Young Leroy was only six months at the time and his early years were not the best as he did not have a good relationship with his father and was raised by a great aunt and his grandmother.

"I never got to experience the finer points of a parent's life with him," said Mr. Richardson, though he did inherit his father love of cricket. His father was a wicketkeeper and tailend batsman.

"I never lived with my father. He died about three weeks before I turned 16, in June 1937." Mr. Richardson's own son, Randy, followed in his footballing path as a top defender for Young Men's Social club and St. George's Colts and also showed early interest in cricket.

Certainly Mr. Richardson can relate to what he sees going on in the lives of many youngsters today, though he made something of himself, including serving in the Prison Service for 21 years and rising to the rank of Chief Officer.

He then spent 22 years working as a storeman at Meyer's which is where he became something of a mentor for a number of young plant workers, including another St. George's sportsman, sailor Stevie Dickinson, who happened to walk by during the interview. Dickinson listened intently as Mr. Richardson spoke of the old times, interrupting only to say hello.

"Back in 1963 I bowled him out with a groundscraper," Dickinson joked as he pulls Mr. Richardson's leg. "We've talked many times as far as sports is concerned. I'm sure if I had gotten out of hand he would have been there to put me in place." Dickinson's grandfather Edward (Boar) Watson also played Cup Match for St. George's between 1916 and 1935 and was one of the top fast bowlers of his generation. Watson finished with 74 Cup Match wickets which places him sixth in the all-time bowling averages.

Certainly there have been some outstanding players over the years, but Mr. Richardson doesn't hesitate to name Champ Hunt as the best all-round cricketer he has seen, while Clarence (Tuppence) Parfitt, who came along ten years after he finished, is rated the best bowler. "Carlton Welch, as an attacking bowler, was something else when he was on form," said Mr. Richardson.

"He was medium-fast and when he delivered he would look down at his toe just before he delivered the ball. He had a style all of his own. I never played against Warren Simmons but I'm told he was one of our greatest ever Bermuda cricketers," said Mr. Richardson.

Richardson also rated the likes of Bosun Swainson, Cocky Steede, Walter Darrell, Buster Smith, Bummy Symonds, Dennis Wainwright, Kenny Smith and Wilbur Burgess of St. George's and Ray Horton, Woodgate Simmons, McDonald Simmons, Timmy Edwards, Cheesy Hughes, Lloyd Simmons, Chopper Hazel and Sheridan Raynor for the west Enders.

He also has many memories of battles with 'Sam Porgy' Smith, at 93 the oldest surviving Cup Match player. "He was as tough as they come...quite a personality," recalled the veteran. And how do today's players compare?

"I would rate Clay Smith, but the only thing I have against him is his attitude," said Mr. Richardson who was there at the St. George's Cricket Club on Monday night when the player apologised for his well publicised outburst two years ago after being dropped. "For his cricketing ability I don't think there is anybody in Bermuda better than him, and that's not taking anything from Albert Steede. Mind you, there is little to choose between the two, but I would still give Clay the edge." Mr. Richardson is reluctant to make too much of a comparison between players of his generation and those today. Conditions are different now and times have changed but he still enjoys the game nonetheless.

"I take it as it comes," he says.

"Because I've been in it, I know it's not an easy road to travel. I know I've made a lot of mistakes, but at the same time I did some good for the game. "I learned a lot from those older than me as well as younger." And what about his approach to the game as a captain? "My motto before I went out onto the field was we play every game as if our lives are at stake. I used to say to the players 'please, one eye on me and one eye on the bowler and if you see something that you think will help the situation don't hesitate to bring it to my attention.' "The best captain I played under was Bosun Swainson. I didn't play under many, it was only Bosun, Walter Darrell, Jigger Smith and Carlton Welch, for one year."