St. David's, former West Indies Test skipper Richie Richardson, has been forced to withdraw leaving newly appointed Bermuda national coach Roland Butcher as the sole invited player in the annual classic.

Organisers of the event were stunned this week to discover that Richardson had lost his passport in England and was having difficulty in getting another in time to arrive here for the game after just arriving in Antigua in mid-week.

"Naturally to say we are extremely disappointed to have this occur to the same player who a year ago had to pull out of the testimonial at the last minute because of a broken leg,'' said testimonial committee spokesman St.

Clair (Brinky) Tucker.

"We are sad but not discouraged because the show must go on. But it does appear that we have to jump over one hurdle after another to organise something special for our many cricket lovers who have supported this event over the years.'' Tucker explained that the committee had made a concerted effort to get another player here in place of Richardson, but both former Test openers Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge were unavailable.

Earlier attempts to bring in Curtly Ambrose had also failed after the prominent West Indies fast bowler, who has just retired from Test cricket after the tour of England, had too many official engagements at home to travel abroad.

"We certainly did make a concerted effort to get another player for Richie and we do apologise to the public for letting them down two years in a row after advertising Richie would be here,'' said Tucker.

"It just happened that neither Haynes nor Greenidge could fit the trip into their schedule at the last minute, both being involved with the selection of the Barbados team for the forthcoming Red Stripe Bowl tournament. Haynes is chairman of the selectors and Greenidge is the coach.'' "But we do have our own new national coach Roland Butcher here for the event and we hope that the public will come out and see the person in action who will be responsible for organising a cricket programme for the Island the next few years.'' Despite the problems, Tucker said that he hoped the public will remember the main reason for the game -- to collect funds for development of youth cricket and to honour ex-players who made vast contributions.

"We are crossing our fingers in hope that the same good support will be forthcoming,'' he said.

The honourees this year are Woodgate Simmons, Sinclair (Andy) Smith and the founding member of the testimonial match Custerfield Crockwell. Former St.

David's skipper Sidney (Cowboy) Hall is the main beneficiary this year while the remaining portion of the receipts will go to the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control for their junior programme.

The 40 overs game will start at 11 a.m. with the presentations taking place between the innings.