St. David’s president Aaron Lugo believes his club is close to returning to the Eastern Counties competition following successful talks with the Eastern Counties Cricket Association (ECCA) board members recently.During the off season, talks between all ECCA clubs have been taking place as they look for a resolution for outstanding issues that were brought to the forefront last year.St. David’s’ boycott last year stemmed from an Eastern Counties meeting during which members voted unanimously in favour of having the series played at Sea Breeze Oval for the second straight year.St. David’s, who were scheduled to be the hosts last year, were angered by that decision and took a tough stance.However, with a meeting scheduled for tomorrow, the club are expected to confirm their place in this year’s tournament, something Lugo is anxious to see.“We are always looking to go in a positive direction with the Eastern Counties, so hopefully tomorrow we can solidify everything for our participation,” said Lugo. “We have had countless meetings in regards to this year’s competition and it should be a matter of making things official and we can move on.“I believe we can move forward with the meetings, there are some level-headed people in these meetings so it should be okay.”The St. David’s club believed the community suffered as a whole last year following their withdrawal from the competition.Stephen Outerbridge, captain of arch rivals Bailey’s Bay, tried to get St. David’s to return to the competition, and at one stage his plea seemed to have succeeded with negotiations between the club and the board going well.The ECCA weren’t ready to lay down, however, and the Bay skipper even backed St David’s to the extent that he said Bay would also consider boycotting a match in support of the champions’ stance.Although that never materialised, it sent out a serious signal of intent from the two powerhouses that they wouldn’t be backed into a corner.Now the quarrelling has died down, Lugo wants the Eastern Counties to return to its proud tradition.“It’s important for the club to be involved in the competition, that goes without saying, it’s part of the history and tradition to be involved so we are looking forward to the meeting and the progress we can make from it,” he said.“Eastern Counties is important to all the clubs on this side of the Island and we want to continue to be involved and compete against the other clubs to see who is the best in the East End.”