Dale Butler has left nobody in any doubt of his views on the club versus country Cup Match row ? the coach knows best and that is that.

Asked to comment on a controversy which has polarised the cricketing community since it came to light last week, Butler acknowledged the importance of Cup Match to local culture but argued that those who oppose the national coach's recommendation to withdraw the Island's leading seam bowlers from the annual Classic are not looking at the bigger picture.

"We seem to have a problem understanding what our priorities should be," he said.

"It's an automatic thing in many other countries for the interests of the country to come first ? but this is not the case in Bermuda for some reason. We all love Cup Match and we understand its importance to Bermuda. But the circumstances have now changed.

"We have a first class coach at our disposal who has a lot of experience and knows what he is doing when it comes to preparing teams to compete effectively at an international level.

"We have got to trust the coach. If the coach feels that withdrawing certain players from Cup Match in the run up to the tour of Canada is the right thing to do, then I don't think we are in a position to question it. I support Mr. Logie and the BCB 100 percent.

"We have invested a lot of money in cricket and one of the reasons we did that was because we believe in what the coach is trying to achieve with the players at his disposal. As much as we feel all sentimental towards Cup Match, we are wading into deeper water internationally and it makes no sense to me whatsoever to jeopardise our chances of success."

Despite the potential absence from Cup Match of players such as Ryan Steede, George O'Brien Jr, Stefan Kelly and Kevin Hurdle, Butler said he did not believe the credibility of Cup Match would be significantly undermined.

"The policy will not damage Cup Match irrevocably," he said.

"The quality of the cricket will still be high and there will still be runs scored and wickets and catches taken. I don't think we have to worry about that at all and we will still have a great Cup Match.

"For now though, I must urge Bermudians to get completely behind the national team, and this involves understanding that Cup Match is not as important as what the national team are currently trying to achieve."has asked Logie to provide a more comprehensive explanation of his recommendation to the Bermuda Cricket Board but he declined, directing all questions on the matter to the BCB executive.

It is understood that they fully support the recommendation, but when contacted last night BCB president Reggie Pearman said they would not be commenting officially "at this stage".