Sea Breeze Oval red-faced on Saturday after they discovered their services were not required for the game between Cleveland and St. David's.

The pair showed up late for the game -- Francis said they appeared at 11.55 a.m. while other reports say it was about 12.05 p.m. -- only to find Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association members Randy Butler and Jeff Pitcher on the field with the players.

But rather than make a scene, the pair quietly left the ground and drove straight to Somerset Cricket Club where they submitted a report to Bermuda Cricket Board of Control secretary Reggie Pearman.

"I thought the correct thing to do was to go to Somerset and give Pearman a report,'' Francis explained yesterday.

He admitted he was embarrassed to find the other umpires already in charge but decided against making an issue of it and quietly left after a few minutes.

"That's not right,'' Francis said of the decision by Butler and Pitcher to take over the match. "This is creating a lot of problems. I was surprised and shocked. Those guys were not scheduled and I didn't know what the situation was, so we decided to leave.'' To make things look more suspicious, both Butler and Pitcher were wearing their white umpiring coats, though Butler said he just happened to take his along when he went to Sea Breeze Oval at about 11.30 a.m. to watch the match.

The BCUA secretary declined to comment further but did say that he and Pitcher were asked to stand in in the absence of the two appointed officials. "Why would they go down there dressed in their umpires' clothes?'' Francis asked.

"Why choose that particular game to watch and come with their umpires' jackets? I was embarrassed as it was and wouldn't put myself in a more embarrassing situation by going on the field and asking them to come off.

"I didn't want to get in a situation of four umpires arguing about who's going on the field. It didn't make sense to get involved in a confrontation.

Butler should have known better and should not have gotten involved in it.'' Francis stressed that he is not usually late for matches but on that particular day he was held up by an accident involving another vehicle as well as the traffic lights on South Shore Road.

"That took a half-hour away from us,'' he explained.

"Oliver and I arrived about five minutes to 12, and when we got there Oliver said he was going down to get the teams ready while I parked the car. I was in the car changing my shirt when he came back and said Randy Butler and Jeff Pitcher were going out on the field.'' According to Francis, he was supposed to do the match with Clarence Tucker, who was unavailable because he was driving taxi. Bain was asked to replace Tucker.

Cleveland player and board member Allan Douglas said that both teams were only interested in having the game played.

"The fight isn't with Cleveland and St. David's and the board,'' said Douglas. "We just went out and played cricket.

"I would like to see the best umpires out there. I think it's ridiculous that the associations can't sort their differences out.

"In the interest of the sport we found two umpires and did the game. We went down there to play cricket. We all should be interested in cricket and nothing else.'' Another meeting is scheduled for tonight between the BCBC and the BCUA in a bid to try to resolve a rift that developed before the start of the season.

The appearance by Butler and Pitcher on Sunday was the first by BCUA members in Premier Division matches this season.

They have been keeping busy doing Commercial League matches, with Butler standing in with Jack Thompson in the Forties-St. David's match on Sunday at Shelly Bay field.

As well as being clouded in controversy in regards to some decisions made, the Bermuda Cricket Umpires Union also appears to be struggling to field its full quota of officials.

Mansfield Smith was left to stand alone over the weekend while four other matches also went ahead with just one official.

GEORGE FRANCIS -- `Why choose that particular game...' RANDY BUTLER -- Just happened to take umpiring coat.