Cricket bosses came out firing yesterday in response to a group of disaffected affiliates who have questioned their competence — accusing the group’s leader Ellsworth Christopher of embarking on a malicious campaign of misinformation.

In a strongly-worded statement, Bermuda Cricket Board secretary Marc Wetherhill said they “utterly rejected” most of the grievances contained in a list handed to them by former Board president Ed Bailey in the aftermath of a stormy meeting between the two sides on Tuesday night.

Neither side have made that list available to The Royal Gazette and it is therefore unclear what specific complaints the rebel group have.

Wetherhill also vehemently denied Christopher’s suggestion in today’s story that the new BCB constitution had not been properly ratified — pointing to a March 15, 2006 special general meeting held at Charities House, at which Christopher was present, where a new constitution was passed with the required two-thirds majority.

He was keen to stress also that the two-thirds majority was achieved despite the entire executive committee abstaining from the vote.

“We at the Board are utterly appalled by what is going on and the unadulterated rubbish which is being bandied about by the ringleaders of this group,” said Wetherhill.

“We are now in possession of their issue list, which is in some places simply misleading and in other places totally inaccurate and untrue.

“It is difficult for me to put into words quite how disturbed I and the rest of the executive committee are by this whole episode and the way some members of this group have conducted themselves.

“We will be doing everything we can to ensure that the personal agendas of a few individuals do not prevail and do not further damage and undermine the state of Bermuda cricket, both now and in the future.

“This whole thing has been a very unwelcome distraction from the business of running the sport on the Island, but now that we have their issue list, we are going to meet with representatives from every single club so that we can defend ourselves against the accusations and listen to any comments or concerns they might have.

“Once that process is complete and all the affiliates are in possession of the facts — rather than the untruths and misinformation which is being circulated — we will call a special general meeting and deal with the matter in an organised and democratic manner.”

Wetherhill also moved to provide the BCB’s take on the events that led up to the meeting between the two parties on Tuesday, which reportedly descended into chaos when a row broke out between the BCB secretary and others on the opposing side.

“We received a letter from this group of June 25 stating they were unhappy with the way in which the Board was conducting itself and requesting a special general meeting to discuss their grievances,” he said.

“We responded to the letter saying we were concerned by their apparent dissatisfaction and wanted to listen to what they had to say.

“We agreed to call a special general meeting, but stressed that as per our bye laws we needed them to provide us with a detailed agenda of what was to be discussed, so that we could arrive at the meeting appropriately prepared to answer their concerns.

“A couple more letters went back and forth between then and when the meeting eventually took place on Tuesday, but we were not any any stage provided with the required agenda.

“We then made it clear to them both before and after the meeting that it could not be considered a Special General Meeting under the law because of their failure to provide an agenda.

“But the meeting was not a harmonious one by any means, and the priority now has got to be to get this sorted out as quickly as possible.”