marked man with some umpires even though he has worked hard to correct any suspect action.

The 25-year-old was called for throwing by square leg umpire Oliver Bain during his team's shock four-run win over Devonshire Rec. on Sunday.

But his captain, James Pace, is standing by his main strike bowler and has challenged umpires to be more consistent in calling him for throwing. Pace was referring to the fact that Fox was never called by Mahdee Shabazz when he switched back to Bain's end for his third spell.

"If the umpires are going to consistently call him I can accept it,'' said Pace yesterday. "But if one umpire calls him and the other umpire in the same game doesn't then one is making a fool of the other. I stressed that to Bain on Sunday.

"He (Fox) was quite upset which I have to agree with. In the first spell from Bain's end, Shabazz didn't call him and when we put him back at that end he still didn't call him.'' Fox said he is finding it hard to concentrate on his game with all the controversy. "I don't feel I chuck,'' he said last night. "Oliver was looking to call me from the outset of the game. He had me labelled.

"This is my fourth game of the season and he's the first one to call me.

Before I used to bowl from wider of the wicket with my chest open but now I'm bowling closer to the wicket, so I've got to be side on.'' Bermuda Cricket Umpires Association spokesman George Francis does not have a problem with one umpire calling and the other not calling. "Mr. Bain was dissatisfied with the action but Mr. Shabazz was satisfied with it,'' he explained.

Francis did say an error was made when Shabazz allowed Pace to complete Fox's over after he was called for throwing. The law says that a bowler can only have his over completed if he is incapacitated or suspended during an over.

Some fast bowlers have been known to bend the arm when they bowl the quicker delivery and apparently this has been the case with Fox.

"They are saying he is not chucking all the time,'' Pace explained.

The chucking issue has been a `hot potato' since Fox and Gary Brangman of Western Stars were warned during the Bermuda national squad's tour of Barbados. And while neither has been chosen to represent the BCBC since that tour, Pace has no fears about including Fox in the St. David's team.

"Dale will be playing every game until we think otherwise,'' Pace said. "I won't let the umpires deter me from picking him.'' Fox added he still has hopes of playing for his country again even though he has become discouraged.

"They have still invited me to train but after all that it's been a bit discouraging,'' he said. "I just got turned off but I'm still interested in playing for Bermuda.'' Devonshire Rec. captain Albert Steede refused to be drawn into the controversy, accepting that his team had only themselves to blame for not winning Sunday's match with overs and wickets to spare.

"As I see it we lost and we can't blame anyone but ourselves,'' said Steede yesterday.

"We had control of the game from the very first ball. We only needed 18 with 15 overs remaining and six wickets in hand so it wasn't a difficult task.'' This week, Devonshire will be switching their focus to Saturday's Central Counties Cup final against Western Stars, whom they beat recently in the league.

"That's history,'' Steede said of the loss to St. David's. "Now we need to look forward to this important match on Saturday, which is our first match for a trophy.

"On Tuesday in training we will be focussed on the Central Counties and not dwell too much on this past Sunday. We should understand what went wrong.'' Rec. will have selection options for Saturday's final with batsmen Terry Fray and Donald Norford and seamer Mark Trott all pushing for places. One player who should keep his place is Jason Lewis who responded to being dropped against Western Stars with scores of 72 and 46 in the last two matches.

DALE FOX -- "(Oliver Bain) ad me labelled.''