Veteran batsman Lionel Cann has made himself unavailable for selection for St David’s in the second round of the Eastern Counties.Cann left St David’s to join Warwick as player-coach this season after publicly voicing his displeasure at seeing some of his teammates smoking marijuana in the changing room during a match towards the end of last season. Disciplinary action was taken by the club.Cann says that incident is in the past and was not the reason why he choose not to join the club in their return to the Counties after a two-year absence. He says he considers it unfair for players who are performing well for the league team not to be given first preference over other players.“It’s always been my belief that if you play for your home club and are good enough then you don’t need outside players,” said Cann, 39, who has been in outstanding form with his First Division side, scoring four centuries in seven innings.“St David’s obviously have the best team in Bermuda, they are going through a bad patch, but if five or six of them were unavailable I would gladly step forward. But with people being available it would mean taking a youngster’s spot, which I don’t believe in. I was given the opportunity at 14 years old in 1987 and that’s what jump started my whole cricket career.”St David’s will make an eagerly awaited return to the Counties on August 18 and Cann was key to their plans to wrestle the cup back from champions Bailey’s Bay whom they are expected to meet in the second round.St David’s coach Wendell Smith would obviously prefer to have Cann available to boost his team’s batting. “Lionel has said how his (late) grandfather (Lionel Mello) was a great inspiration to him and I can only wonder what his grandfather would be thinking today if he knew that Lionel was turning his back on the opportunity to represent St David’s,” Smith stated.“It will be his choice whether he changes his mind or not.”However, Cann insists he is standing by his decision and says that his grandfather would have been supportive of his stance. “My grandfather was my biggest role model and I know he would stand for the same decision I made,” said Cann.“He would probably have looked at what happened at St David’s and say don’t play for St David’s because of what happened. He was a man of principle. I’m not turning my back on the club, Eastern Counties made me and it hurts me not to be playing. But I have my principles too and I don’t want to take somebody’s spot if they are good enough.”The good news for Cup Match champions St George’s is Cann intends to play for another year at least. Cann was instrumental in the team’s thrilling two-wicket victory last year at Wellington Oval with 49 not out in the second innings. It is expected the club will be forced to make a few changes to their team with batsman OJ Pitcher abroad in school and expected to miss the match. Main strike bowler Stefan Kelly is another doubtful while captain Oronde Bascome is reportedly recovering from surgery and may not recover in time.“I’m always available for Cup Match because it is my belief that for Cup Match it should be the best 22 players in Bermuda and I consider myself to be one of the 22,” he stated.“So as long as I’m good enough I will always make myself available, when fit, to play Cup Match.”Cann, who stood down to make way for Bascome’s appointment to the captaincy, may be asked to use his experience to lead the team in Somerset on August 2 and 3. “It was an honour to captain in Cup Match,” said the team’s most senior player who needs just 13 runs to become only the fifth player to score 1,000 runs in Cup Match.“I stepped down two years ago so we could get in a youngster while I was still playing and show him the ropes. If it is a crisis situation and no one else was available and I was asked I wouldn’t think twice about that. It’s one of the biggest honours, to captain your country or captain Cup Match.”