Bay Cricket Club were refuted yesterday by both a Board executive and a leading club official.

Upset that they were not offered a match against the Australian Test team during their three-match tour of Bermuda next week, Bailey's Bay skipper Chris Smith and veteran all-rounder Noel Gibbons earlier this week suggested that there was an ulterior motive behind the Board's decision to ignore their team.

But BCBC second vice president Keith Tucker yesterday denied that there was "a conspiracy of any sort'' and Mansfield Smith, president of St. George's Cricket Club, also said he felt the accusations were wrong.

"I can assure you that we have no vendetta against Bailey's Bay or any one of the other clubs,'' said Tucker. "I am not the Board's public relations officer but I can say for certain that there is no such vendetta. As for the reason why they were not chosen to play, I'm afraid I can't say.'' Tucker said he would refrain from further responding to the claims made by the two players, primarily because the Board's spokesman was president Ed Bailey who is currently in Jamaica and will be returning with the Australian team on Saturday evening.

The Bailey's Bay duo felt that since their team had won the Premier Division title, the Knockout, Camel Cup and Eastern Counties Cup they should have been rewarded with a match against the tourist.

Traditionally, they claimed, the league champions had always opposed a touring team, although the record shows that this wasn't the case when Australia last visited in 1991.

Australia this time have been matched against Bermuda, a President's Select and the St. George's Cup Match team.

The St. George's president agreed that the local league champions often played against tourists, but normally only when there was a four or five game schedule.

"But it's also normal for a Test team in particular to play an international game, the President's Select, who consist of guys on the fringe of the national team and the team considered the most powerful in the Island,'' said Smith.

"I can't see the Board giving Bailey's Bay a game when there is just a three game tour like this one. If there was a fourth or fifth game perhaps the league champions and a youth team could have been included, but this was not the case.'' Smith said he felt it was justified for the St. George's Cup Match team to have been chosen to play, pointing out that they had long proven to be the strongest select team in Bermuda.

"The St. George's Cup Match team is known to be the most powerful select team we have in the country. We gave Australia a heck of a run for their money when they were last here and it's no more than fitting that if the Board went to a club team that St. George's had to be first choice,'' added Smith.

Asked to comment on further claims by Bay that some of their players had been deliberately overlooked for the three select teams, Smith said: "As a former Cup Match selector I have learned that a selection committee is always second guessed. That's nothing new. I don't care who you pick, you are damned if you do, and damned if you don't and this will never change.'' Smith was reluctant to comment on the Bailey's Bay skipper's remarks that the captain himself and Devrae Hollis deserved consideration. Chris Smith told The Gazette he believed he had been the best opener for the last four years in local cricket.

The St. George's president, however, thought otherwise, pointing to one of his own players, Dexter Smith, who has been "the most productive and consistent opener in local cricket'' during the last four years. He is now vacationing in England and will miss the Aussie tour.

"But I'd rather not comment on which Bailey's Bay players should have been considered for the three selections,'' added Smith.