Cup Match spectators who slid across the pitch when play was cancelled due to rain behaved abominably, according to Government senator Marc Bean.

He told the Upper Chamber he watched in horror on Thursday afternoon as tourists and Bermudians alike descended on the wet covers which had been laid over the ground at Somerset Cricket Club.

"I was not impressed with what I saw," he said yesterday, adding that it was "sacrilege" to slide or go anywhere near the wicket.

"The wicket is the centre of Cup Match. What happens if we had taken the covers off and seen that the wicket was all destroyed?"

The Junior Tourism Minister said visitors may have thought it was a "slip and slide kind of game" but locals should have known better.

Elsewhere in the world, he said, such behaviour at a cricket match would prompt a lifetime ban from the ground.

Noting that Cup Match is a celebration of emancipation, he said: "We are celebrating the fact that we are free as a people. That type of behaviour really doesn't help us to embrace that oneness that Cup Match can become in the future. For cricket lovers, that is an abomination."

Opposition Senate leader Michael Dunkley said he appreciated Sen. Bean's emotion but added: "I think we are making a big deal out of a small thing."

He said he didn't see anyone near the wicket and security officials stopped the sliding eventually. The Shadow Public Safety Minister said people were bored during the rain so tried to create some excitement.

"I myself wouldn't have gone and slid on the covers because I know you don't do that type of thing. [But] I think we are making a mountain out of a molehill."

Sen. Dunkley said he found the presence of marijuana at the game, as well as at the BeachFest party at Horseshoe Bay and at the Non-Mariners race, more offensive. "It's unacceptable to allow this type of behaviour to be going on," he said. "The law is the law."

Both politicians said the Island needed to ensure Cup Match does not become too commercialised.

Sen. Dunkley said the turnout was poor this year, even taking into account the bad weather. "We need to do all we can to try and attract the crowds," he added.

Sen. Bean agreed, arguing that there needed to be a balance between the commercial and cultural aspects of the celebration.