Willow Cuts official Keith Lapsley yesterday jumped to the defence of his player, Dexter Basden, who is said to be facing possible disciplinary action from Bermuda Cricket Board for publicly voicing his opinion.

The Royal Gazette learned late last week that BCB president Reggie Pearman announced during a recent meeting that Basden, along with Western Stars batsman Jermaine Postlethwaite, could be in trouble for publicly speaking out over the whereabouts of the ‘phantom' Combined KO Cup and the omission of Cuts from this summer's inaugural Belco Cup competition.

“It's a slap in the face! If they are going to punish people for telling the truth . . . then something is definitely wrong,” argued Lapsley yesterday.

“If they are suspending people for telling the truth and they haven't informed nobody about nothing then they should be suspended because this competition is coming off next month. When are they going to finally inform the clubs. Is this the way clubs get informed? No, something is definitely wrong.”

Lapsley said news of Basden's possible punishment was a shock to everyone around the Cuts clubhouse.

“Everybody is bewildered. To me, he (Basden) hasn't said nothing. All he said was that he knew nothing about us not being involved in this year's Belco Cup.”

“Dexter was as surprised as everyone else. He has done absolutely nothing,” added the former Cuts batsman.

“Somebody down at the BCB isn't doing their job. When are they going to do their job? We were never informed otherwise by the BCB but I can tell you that I was at that meeting when we (affiliates) took a vote on the new changes to the former Camel Cup.

“The two teams that were coming up (First Division) were supposed to be in this competition. They haven't informed nobody. So we would like to know what is the deal. These teams are receiving finances from this competition and we're supposed to be a part of it too. We want to know what's going on because if this is the case, why was it that we were never informed?”

For Cuts, being omitted from this year's Belco Cup, brings back bad memories.

“It's like the year (2001) we were in the Champion of Champions. When we got down there (St.David's) we understood that all the teams received monies from this competition,” said Lapsley. “We don't know what St.David's got or what Western Stars received but we asked questions about our money and how come the BCB were taking money from the gate when in fact it was a Counties match? They are not supposed to be taking any money. We want to know where's the money gone? We didn't receive anything.

“They took the receipts from both matches and that's supposed to be a County gate. Where do the BCB come in and just take the money?”

BCB president Pearman said although the Counties may have their own rules, they still fall under the BCB umbrella.

“I was one of the originators of the Counties Champions of Champions when it was set up while I was working at Pitt and Company,” said Pearman yesterday. “From what I gather the BCB have taken the gate during the last few finals. What happened there . . . I don't know. That was before my presidency.”

With regard to any possible disciplinary action against Basden and Postlethwaite, Pearman added: “What players need to do is look at the code of conduct. And all of the clubs have a copy of the code of conduct.”

As of yesterday, no final decision had been reached with regard to Saturday's abandoned First Division match involving Flatts and Bailey's Bay.

Flatts were 201 for nine in pursuit of Bay's 227 when batsmen Derek Wright and Chris Caisey had an appeal for bad light upheld by umpire Richard Burrows at 7.40 p.m.

At 25 overs, which constitutes a match, Flatts had made 120 while Bay had scored 99.

Pearman said the Board were still awaiting the official match report from the umpire.