Allan Douglas Jr, the Cleveland captain, bemoaned his team’s lack of professionalism after their scheduled match yesterday in the Logic Premier Division was forfeited, ostensibly because players got carried away celebrating an historic victory in the Eastern Counties Cup less than 24 hours earlier.

Only eight players turned up to face St David’s at Lord’s by the cut-off time of 11.15am, meaning the tie was awarded to the home side without a ball being bowled.

Douglas said that while the previous day’s Eastern Counties win over St David’s had given Cleveland much to cheer about, certain players had let down the side by taking their celebrations too far.

“Unfortunately, the celebrations spoiled our league game,” Douglas said. “It is not professionalism.”

Peter Philpott, Damali Bell and Shaki Darrell, stars of Saturday’s game at Sea Breeze Oval, were unavailable to play again yesterday because of injury, while Dion Stovell, of Southampton Rangers, and Mishael Paynter, of St George’s, were guest players. But the reserves who were supposed to replace them failed to show up.

Stovell was in fine enough shape to again play a starring role for his club side, with another fifty in victory over Bailey’s Bay, while Paynter knew that he had a day off coming, with St George’s having a bye.

Douglas refused to name names, but said: “I’m a little bit disappointed in some of my reserves from the Eastern Counties match. They know who they are and they know they should have been here.”

Two late arrivals had emerged by 11.30am, taking Cleveland’s total to ten, but umpires Roger Dill and James McKirdy insisted that the forfeiture should stand. “Cut-off time is cut-off time,” Douglas said in making the concession.

On Saturday, Cleveland had thrashed St David’s to win in the Eastern Counties Cup for the first time since 1981. However, the visiting side remained clear underdogs for yesterday’s match, with St David’s top of the Premier Division and Cleveland struggling near the bottom with only one victory this season.

“I’m still very delighted about the county win,” Douglas said. “It was the first time we had won in 30-odd years and the first time we beat St David’s in even longer.

“But we still had a league match to worry about. Some players are looking to play Cup Match in a few weeks and they were hoping to use this match as a trial. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get that extra chance to play.”

Asked about Cleveland’s ambitions for the rest of the season, Douglas responded with a smile. “It looks like we are going to focus on county,” he said. “As you can see, the league is not much a priority if my team’s not showing up the day after we won county.”