final.

The ruling meant St George's tasted defeat for the first time this season.

Bermuda Cricket Board of Control vice president Gladstone (Sad) Brown confirmed the result following a meeting, pointing out that the rules of the competition were simple.

"In the case of a tie, the side losing the lesser nubmer of wickets shall be the winner, so St. David's are the winners of the competition. It's as simple as that,'' said Brown.

He added that both clubs had been informed of the Board's decision. The two teams had finished with their scores tied on 118. St. David's batted their 48 overs and lost nine wickets while St. George's were bowled out in 45.5 overs.

Umpires Randy Butler and George Francis were unable to declare a winner after the match because they were not in possession of a copy of the playing conditions and regulations. But Bermuda Cricket Board of Control president El James said he found that unacceptable.

"The umpires should have been in possession of the rules for the Knockout Cup,'' said the president, who was responding to criticism levelled at the board after the match.

"If they didn't have one in their files they should have contacted us. The fact that they were not in possession of the Knockout rules is not the fault of the board.'' James, in his first year as president after the old executives were ousted, did agree, however, that some things could have been done better by the board.

One of those was the fact that none of the three board officials who were there towards the end stayed at the ground.

"Our representatives probably left a little bit early,'' the president acknowledged.

"Yes, there are some things that we need to perfect. One of the things we do need to do is standardise the regulations for one-day cricket. We also need to appoint match referees for these matches.

"Unfortunately one game of the season highlighted some of these things. We recognise some shortcomings, that's what life is about. We're not too proud to admit we're learning as we go along,'' he said.