The Eastern Counties Cup, second only to Cup Match in prestige, will take place tomorrow – but no thanks to the Bailey's Bay executive committee.

It took a three hour meeting on Wednesday night for members of that committee to see sense . . . and having finally done that they should resign en masse.

Nobody will condone the behaviour of the Bay players who had threatened not to turn out for tomorrow's game against Cleveland County, but if ever there was a case for the players to take such dractic action, then this was it.

The row all stemmed from the executive's decision to ban team skipper Stephen Outerbridge for 18 months and team-mate Cory Hill for a year. For what? For talking to the media.

Outerbridge and Hill had the 'temerity' to voice their opinion over the Bay/St.David's deadlock.

The East End club pulled out of this year's competition as they felt they should have been hosting the matches – and in some ways they had a strong argument.

But that controversy soon became a secondary issue as the men running Sea Breeze Oval club took the draconian decision to ban both Outerbridge and Hill.

It was one thing to discipline the pair for voicing an opinion they might not have agreed with, it was another that there was nothing in the club's own rule book that denied players the right to talk to the media.

Unlike other clubs, which happen to pay some of their players, Bay offer no compensation.

In fact, it's the players who pay the club by way of membership fees.

The crux of the matter is that Bay's executive were completely out of order.

Bay's players are amateurs. They have every right to talk to the media over issues with which they disagree.

Even professional Test players and football's Premier League players often have their say over the performance of referees, the way their clubs are run and the tactics employed by the coach.

Usually they get a slap on the wrist for what the club or country might deem a breach of discipline, but a ban of 18 months is unheard of.

What were Bay's executives thinking? It might be they who are guilty of a far more serious offence – being complicit with the Eastern Counties Association in failing to produce an audit for several years. What's been happening to the money? It might well have been used to upgrade grounds and facilities. But who knows?

Wednesday's meeting turned ugly with some people walking out before calming down and returning and the normally mild-mannered Outerbridge becoming so incensed he threatened an official.

Clearly it was an emotional showdown with the players finally getting no more than they deserved.

But taking into consideration what had transpired before a decision was made, it was no more than a hollow victory.

The only loser was the Eastern Counties series, which has been clouded by one row after another this season.

Should Cleveland pull off an unlikely victory this weekend, such a triumph would still be overshadowed by the issues which have turned the competition into a farce.

Added to the episode is a question over why local cricket's governing body, the Bermuda Cricket Board, didn't intervene.

The BCB don't like to interfere with club disagreements. But on this occasion, for the sake of the game, they should have brought Bay's committee members and the players together and made a ruling over who was right or wrong. They should have acted as the arbitrator, and their decision should have been final.

Instead, it was a controversy that was allowed to get completely out of hand.

Bay's executive insisted on Wednesday night there was a level of discipline that had to be adhered to. Before imposing that policy, they might want to look in the mirror.

* * * *

Once the Counties finishes this weekend, attention will turn to the final competition of the season, Twenty20, a format of the game which continues to grow in every country where cricket is played.

Hopefully that will be the case in Bermuda.

Regular league games continue to attract only a handful of spectators.

A Twenty20 match is always decided by big hitters, outstanding fielding and smart bowling. It can be all over in two or three hours.

If that doesn't bring the fans out in force, then nothing will.

– ADRIAN ROBSON