Cleveland County Cricket Club tried to spring an upset in the final of the Eastern Counties Cup, but they just did not make it, losing Saturday's low-scoring match to St. David's by 57 runs at Lord's.

Fact of the matter is that Cleveland have not held the coveted trophy for the past 27 years. Expectations of the thousands attending the game in St. David's and those tuned in to the radio coverage were high for the underdogs when Cleveland won the toss, sent St. David's to bat and then knocked them down for 149.

But St. David's made mincemeat of them, taking their first wicket with just five runs on the board, and all out for 92, to maintain their dominance as overlords of the Eastern Counties for yet another year.

There is something about the Eastern Counties Cup matches that in the final analysis makes it secondary about who wins or not. And that 'something' is the end-of-summer release, the excitement the series generates, and has been doing, going from strength to strength for the past 104 years.

Yes, the series began in 1904, two years after the annual Somerset-St. George's Cup Match began, first and foremost as an Emancipation Day celebration. The latter has been described as a 'blood and thunder' thing to determine the East v West cricket supremacy of Bermuda.

The rivalry at the other end of the spectrum is between Flatts, Bailey's Bay, Cleveland and St. David's and they pull the rest of Bermuda along in the effort.

I was intrigued when a young woman, perhaps not yet 40, sitting on the sidelines next to me, got up the nerve to ask me in the friendliest of manners: "Is this your first time at the County Cup Match?"

I smiled and wanted to tell her about what was one of the most exciting sports stories I ever wrote.

It was headlined in the now defunct Bermuda Recorder newspaper, 'Muddle At Duck's Puddle'. That was some 50 years ago, when Duck's Puddle in Bailey's Bay was the epicentre of the series, just as Lord's at St. David's is now.

In any case, it was a Thursday afternoon final. Last man was batting, three runs were needed for victory. The ball was hit towards the eastern boundary but was suspected of being intercepted near the edge by the jubilant crowd prematurely swarming the field.

The game was over. It was a compound muddle, to say the least. Maybe someone with a better memory will recall how it was solved.

Our pictures show the colourful setting during the Eastern Counties Cup final at Lord's, the home ground of St. David's Cricket Club. At bottom, Sports Minister El James congratulates Delyone Borden as he strides forward to collect his trophy as the MVP of the game. Looking on at the right are officials Harold Millett, president of the Eastern Counties Association, and Cleveland's Stephen Douglas. Top, the victorious St. David's team celebrate victory with their greatest fans.