Delray Rawlins will miss next month’s Eastern Counties first round against holders Cleveland County because of his commitments with the Sussex Academy.

The Eastern Counties Cricket Association have changed the player eligibility rule from two years to one, which means that Rawlins, who played for Bay in the league last season, is now able to play for the club.

However, other than returning to play for Bermuda in next month’s ICC Under-19 World Cup qualifying tournament, the St George’s Cup Match all-rounder looks set to spend the summer with Sussex.

“He won’t be playing any league cricket for us, unless he’s home on a break,” Irving Romaine, the Bailey’s Bay coach, said.

The tournament is scheduled to run from July 5 to 12, finishing a week before the first round of the Eastern Counties.

The Eastern Counties, Bermuda’s second-oldest cricket competition behind Cup Match, has stuck to long-held traditions and has resisted a call by some to make the competition 50 or 60 overs per side. In the end, the four clubs voted to only tweak the rules governing the split of overs.

Possible changes to the rules governing the counties were first discussed back in October 2013.

Instead, the maximum overs for the team batting first have been reduced from 70 to 65, with the side batting second now allocated a minimum of 53 overs, which is an increase from 48. The total of 118 overs for each match remains.

“The reduction of the ratio [of overs] is like a compromise,” said McNeil McGowan, chairman of the ECCA’s rules and regulations committee.

“I think we gave ample time to everybody to discuss it with their clubs and come back with ideas, and there is still a lot of tweaking to do if you want to keep the competition alive.

“We’re just trying to keep everybody happy but at some point we might be forced to go to overs. It may be something the clubs might have to seriously think about and vote on. It still gives the team, if they field out for 65 overs, five more overs than they would have had [to bat] and five less overs of fielding out, so in 53 overs if you are chasing 300 runs it should be gettable.”

Romaine, who played for Bay in the Eastern Counties, applauded the governing body’s decision not to switch to 50 or 60-over matches.

“I don’t think the Eastern Counties should ever go to 50 overs, it’s tradition and it makes it exciting when you finally win the cup,” he said.

“Getting so many victories can become boring and teams need to learn how to win it. The 70-48 still produced a lot of exciting cricket, and victories, and the cup changed hands several times. Now it’s 65-53 and it gives the team batting second more of a chance to win the game.

“I won it under open cricket and won it under the 70-48. Hopefully we can win it under this new rule. I just hope they keep the tradition and don’t start talking about coloured clothing.”