A change in format and other commitments forced Willow Cuts to withdraw from last weekend’s Kenneth (Mickey) Thompson Memorial Super Sevens Tournament at Southampton Oval, club stalwart Dexter Basden explained yesterday.

Cuts were scheduled to appear in the annual competition but were forced to scrap their plans when organisers extended the event over a two-day period.

“We were going to play the sevens, but only if it was held on the Saturday as was the case in the previous two years. The tournament was originally supposed to be held on the Saturday only but they then turned around and made it two days because they had a couple more teams (Leg Trappers and Devonshire) come in,” Basden said.

Making matters worse was the fact Cuts also had players committed to Regiment duties at Warwick Camp and had also made arrangements to play a pre-season warm-up against neighbours Somerset, Basden added.

“We just couldn’t commit ourselves to two days and so it didn’t make any sense for us to compete,” he said.

“It didn’t make any sense for us to play one day and then, had we made the semi-finals, have to forfeit the match on the second because we couldn’t play.

“We had a game scheduled with Somerset on Sunday and so we had already committed ourselves to that. But we would’ve liked to have played in the sevens tournament because we do think it is a good tournament.”

Organisers invited Bermuda’s Under-19 national team to fill the void left by Cuts. And the Island’s youngsters made it all the way to the final where they lost to hosts Southampton Rangers.

“It was good to see the youngsters get to the finals,” Basden said. “So something positive did come out of all of this because if we had played then the Under-19s would not have been able to do so.”

Western Counties Cricket Association (WCCA) president Gary Dowling admitted it was sad that Cuts could not compete, but looks forward to having them return for next year’s event.

“The tournament was scheduled to be held earlier, but of course the pitch wasn’t ready because of the changeover from football,”he said. “That was the best weekend available to have the tournament and unfortunately Cuts had other commitments. But life goes on and hopefully they will be back next year.”

That aside, Dowling described last weekend’s event as a “smashing success”.

“We are grateful to the Bermuda Cricket Board for allowing the Under-19s to play in the tournament and the other clubs that joined them. The way the guys conducted themselves throughout the entire weekend also needs to be mentioned and overall I thought the tournament was a great event,” he said.

“We got a chance to see some of our World Cup stars (Saleem Mukuddem, Lionel Cann, Malachi Jones, Kwame Tucker and Janeiro Tucker) play. Janeiro, in particular, really batted well while Leg Trappers and Devonshire added more flavour to the event.

“So on a whole I thought it was a very successful weekend and now we look forward to the next one.”