Bailey's Bay have failed to persuade the Bermuda Cricket Board to reschedule their all-important final league match with Western Stars and have been relegated from the limited overs Premier Division as a result.

Despite being told at the beginning of the season that all clubs must ensure their games are played even if no umpires are available, Bay and Stars decided to abandon their game last Sunday in the absence of match officials.

This decision backfired, however, when fellow relegation candidates Flatts and Somerset both won their respective matches? meaning Bay had to win their final game in order to finish on 11 points for the season along with Stars and Somerset.

With Warwick already consigned to relegation, the second team to be sent down would then have been determined by who had the worst run-rate.

It is understood that Bay wrote to the BCB earlier this week arguing that they did not feel it would have been appropriate for players from both teams to stand as umpires in such a crucial fixture where tensions were likely to run high.

But at a meeting of the BCB's executive committee on Wednesday night, it was decided the policy outlined at the beginning of the season should not be contradicted.

With nine umpires currently overseas, local cricket has been severely hampered by a lack of umpires since the end of Cup Match, with four out of eight games not played last weekend for that reason.

"It was determined that all games that did not take place on Sunday, August 20 due to no umpires being present shall be considered as no results and neither team will be awarded any points," a BCB statement released yesterday read.

"The BCB would like to affirm what has been said all season: that all cricket games must proceed as scheduled, whether an umpire is present or not.

"Due to a heavily congested schedule, games cannot be rearranged. The BCB has reiterated this point throughout the season ? including last week at a press conference ? and would like to emphasise that the spirit of the game is that 'the game must go on'.

"There is a small pool of umpires to draw from and therefore there is a possibility that, from time to time, some games will not have an umpire.

"In this situation it is a necessity that the captains agree on an alternative umpire if one is available. If this is not possible then the teams must umpire the games themselves. This has been clearly explained to all clubs."