Player-coach Andre Manders may long be haunted by his decision not to play in Western Stars’ promotion/relegation match on Sunday.Stars restricted Cleveland to just 136 runs at Sea Breeze Oval but stumbled in their modest run chase as they lacked experience in their middle order and struggled to reach 100 before eventually losing by 29 runs and missing out on another promotion bid.Manders, who recently relocated to Southampton, England, with his family while his son Tre attends a sports academy there, had just returned last week to take care of some personal matters and was offered the opportunity to play which he turned down. Watching the team falter in their run chase and eventually be dismissed for 107, Manders couldn’t help but wonder what difference his experience would have made, even at the age of 52.“I think we lost it in the batting early, just before tea break, when we lost those two wickets,” said Manders. “We needed to be at tea without losing any wickets, they only scored 136 but we ended losing wickets at crucial times.“I would have preferred to be 20 or 25 without loss (at tea). Stars also missed 17-year-old Tre Manders who has been the team’s top batsman this season.“I don’t know if I’m going to be here next season being that Tre is in school, and I don’t even know when Tre will be getting back,” Manders revealed.“In a way I do regret it (not playing) because I have been playing most of the season but I really felt if they are going to go up next season and if I’m not going to be here then they need to start playing themselves. I just didn’t feel coming back on the Friday, working around the house and being tired and playing while they had 15 players who have been training and I haven’t been here for three weeks. I felt they deserved to play, though in hindsight I could have played and it could have been a different result.”Cleveland, by contrast, called on senior players to secure their spot in the top flight next season. Without a century stand between Peter Philpott and Aaron Adams the team would have struggled to reach 50 as Stars’ youngsters did the damage with the ball as the first three wickets went down for 26 runs and the last six for just 10 runs.“What I did like was that they (Stars players) hung in when they had that 100 partnership and the heads didn’t drop,” said Manders.Cleveland coach Allan Douglas Sr, came on as a substitute fielder and used his experience to guide the team to victory. He was clearly relieved afterwards.“We got amongst the wickets early, Danny (Dennis Musson) came on and got a couple and Peter bowled well and Allan (Jr) got a couple, but I thought we weren’t going to do it because 130 isn’t a lot of runs on this field,” said Douglas. “But the guys came through and put their heads down and did what had to be done.”Both coaches accepted that the controversial run-out of Stars batsman Seth Campbell during the bowler’s stride was part of the rules, though not considered sporting. “It happened to us twice this year and when you have 136 runs you are going to use the rules,” said Douglas. “A man who knows the rules is able to use them to his advantage.”Said Manders: “It was nothing untoward what he (Musson) did, it’s in the laws. Cleveland had it done against them and we had it done against us. Some of my players said they would have done the same thing if the game was close like that.”Douglas stands by his recent call for a return to one division next season, insisting that is the way to improve the domestic game.Manders urged more to be done to manage the league as his team only played two league matches after Cup Match as some teams failed to show up.‘It’s been a good season for us, we won the Centry Counties and came second in the league,” said Manders. “But I didn’t like that we only played two games after Cup Match . . . Social Club didn’t show up, Somerset Bridge didn’t show up and PHC didn’t show up.“When we played Warwick it rained and then we had the hurricane, so with our boys not playing the momentum went. I’m not making excuses and I know Flatts had a grievence with the games being postponed during the storm and not being played, especially when teams were fighting to go up. Next season it has to be done a lot better.”