stormy weather, it wouldn't have been played until next season, senior umpire George Francis disclosed yesterday.

And it was for that reason that Francis and colleague Lester Harnett were anxious to complete the match between St. George's and Bailey's Bay, despite a three-and-a-half hour rain delay.

St. George's eventually won the match on the final ball.

"The two umpires had a meeting with the Board (BCBC) officials and we all decided that it was best to go ahead with the game because there were no open dates left to play this season,'' Francis explained.

"We had a match manager, Rudolph Lawrence, and the secretary of the Board, Wilton Smith, was there as well as the Board's vice president Keith Tucker...we all decided it was best to do it this way.

"The alternative would have been to play next year. All we could do at the time was to make it a 20-overs game, we could have only got that amount of play in at the time.'' In order to constitute a match both teams were required to bat a minimum of 20 overs, and had the match not resumed after Bay had reached 106-2 from 17.4 overs, it would have had to have been rescheduled -- something which winning captain Graham Fox thought should have happened anyway.

"Anything under 20 overs ... it would have been no result because the regulations call for each team to face 20 overs to constitute a match,'' said Francis.

Even the Bailey's Bay scorer was under the impression that the match had been abandoned and left the ground, leaving just the St. George's scorer to complete the scorebook. Bay had to photocopy pages from the St. George's scorebook to allow substitute player Cal Dill to fill in as their scorer.

"The scorer took it upon himself to leave and I was very annoyed at that because we never at any time told anybody that the game was over,'' said Francis.

"After we consulted the Board, we decided that we would wait till about 5.40.

We couldn't restart beyond that time because we wouldn't have been able to get the 20 overs in.'' Along with the exciting finish, the match also had its controversial moments.

A crucial run out of Ricky Hodsoll of St. George's on the penultimate ball when the scores were tied prompted one angry East End fan to run onto the field to confront Francis.

"The supporters thought that was the winning run and came onto the field to discover that I had ruled a run out and most of them didn't like that,'' said Francis. "So they had to wait for the sixth ball, which got them a single to win the game.'' With the league now completed, all that is left in the season are the county and cup competitions. The two-day Western Counties final is scheduled for this weekend between Willow Cuts and Somerset Bridge, with the Eastern Counties final being held next Saturday between Bay and Flatts.

The BF&M Champions of Champions competition will take place on the weekend of September 9, 10.