January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
We lost the league but it was a positive season
We'd appealed against the result in our first match with them as we felt they had fielded an ineligible player, but we lost the appeal and we lost the title.
I don't agree with the decision but I can live with it. We had our chance to win the title and we ended up finished tied with Social Club, so I think there's a lot to be proud of from this season.
We've had players away representing Bermuda at crucial times of the season. Social Club didn't have anybody playing internationally, so they had a full strong squad throughout the season.
We lost two crucial games (to Social Club and Southampton Rangers) with myself, Arthur Pitcher, George O'Brien and Stefan Kelly all away on international duty. If we'd won either of those games we'd be champions.
But, like I always say, country comes first and I always tell my players, playing for Bermuda is more important than winning titles with St. David's.
There's been plenty of positives for the club.
Chris Foggo is definitely the MVP for the season, as far as I'm concerned. He made nine half-centuries on the trot and he's scored more runs than anyone in Bermuda this year.
It would be nice to see him get a recall to the national squad for the upcoming tour.
He wants to play for Bermuda and he's the best opening batsman around right now, so it makes sense to include him, when you see the problems we have in that area.
Sammy Robinson had another great knock on Saturday. He had a really good season, particularly in the second half.
Justin Pitcher, our colt in Eastern County, has done well and OJ Pitcher has just carried on from where he left off. Shannon Raynor came back and had a great season and I've been very impressed with the commitment and the professionalism of my squad.
They've had to get used to a strict code of conduct, but they've exceeded my expectations.
To finish tied first, they're quite happy, and they should be.
I think we can win it next year. I expect to have even more St David's players missing long periods on international duty.
If we had a full strength side available for the whole season I would say we could win the league, easy.
But that's not going to be the case. It's going to be tough and the young ones have to fill the void when the more experienced players are away.
I'm fatigued
It's been non-stop cricket for me, for nine months now, and I'm just mentally and physically fatigued from it.
I'm taking a two-week break, where I'm not even going to think about cricket, before I start training with the national squad for the next tour.
I read that Janeiro and Kwame Tucker would be coming back into the squad and that's great. You're talking about two, good, experienced players and it would be good to see them back,
Twenty/20 Worlds
Meanwhile I've been glued to the World Twenty/20 Cup that's going on in South Africa right now. I know some people say it's a trashy tournament or that it's not proper cricket, but I love it. It's the future of the game, it's what people want and it's time Bermuda embraced it.
The way I see it, you have Test players that can't play one-day cricket because they don't score runs quickly enough, the same way as you have one-day players who can't play Test cricket because they are not patient enough. It works both ways.
The bottom line with 20/20 is that it gets the fans into the games. I'm sick of playing to three guys. I'm an entertainer and I want to play to people.
A Twenty/20 league in Bermuda would get people coming to watch cricket for the first time in years. You could have two evening games under the lights at the National Stadium - people would come out for that, I'm sure.
Once you hook them with that, then you might find them coming to the 50-over games or the two-day games as well. Don't just dismiss it because you don't think it's proper cricket. The future of the game could depend on it.[[In-content Ad]]
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