Somerset have been spared a major Cup Match embarrassment, thanks to the graciousness of champions St. George's.

The westenders' squad could have been decimated, as around five players failed to pay their club membership fees by a set deadline and were thereby ineligible for cricket's showpiece.

But St. George's let off their rivals by agreeing to allow the late payers to be considered for selection.

The two clubs had previously agreed that players who had failed to pay their membership dues in full by May 31 this year would be ruled out of Cup Match.

When asked to comment on a situation which could have put his team in the pitiful position of selecting second-rate players to fill the position of key regulars, Somerset's chairman of selectors Bernard Brangman reacted with surprise that the story had become public.

"What! How did you hear about that? I'll tell you what, I think you will have to call my president about that one. I have no comment,'' said Brangman.

However calls made to president Colin Smith last night were not returned.

The clubs had decided on the May 31 deadline to avoid question marks over players' eligibilty in past years caused by different membership fee deadlines.

Furthermore they decided to exchange each others' full membership lists by June 7 so both clubs knew who had paid up.

When that date came Somerset were caught in an uncompromising position as five top stars, all said to be virtually assured of a Cup Match place, had ruled themselves out by failing to pay on time.

The westenders, admitting they were at the mercy of St. George's because of their position, were let off the hook when their east-end rivals decided to waive the fees ruling this year.

An irate St. George's fan said: "It's so silly, it shows that rules don't mean anything. They make them and break them at will it seems. The worst thing about this is that it's something that was just implemented and already it's been broken.

"It also means that now the westenders are indebted to St. George's who will now expect Somerset to do them a huge favour in time to come. Of course this could mean having another policy broken.'' Another source said that St. George's agreed to relent because they didn't want to see the premier cricket match in Bermuda be affected by one team being forced to field a second-rate squad. It would become a mockery, he claimed.

Meanwhile the Somerset captaincy controversy took a another twist last night after the club instructed chairman Brangman not to comment on the dispute involving deposed skipper Dexter Basden.

The chairman did however say that he expected everybody challenging for a place in this year's Cup Match to attend regular training yesterday evening.

A Willow Cuts' member confirmed that Basden and the Somerset selectors still had not met or contacted each other up to 6 p.m. last night.