As Bermuda is agog in the lead-up to Cup Match 2008, especially with all the talk about taking this year's game in Somerset 'to a new level', including for the first time total live television coverage of the event available free of charge locally as well as world-wide, I am reminded of one of the songs I was taught as a little boy in Sunday School: "Count Your Blessing, Name Them One by One."

One great blessing I count is that of having been in so advantaged a position for the past 75 or more years as to have personally known, rubbed shoulders with and talked with not only some of the legendary founders of Cup Match in 1902, but many of the colourful personalities, players and fans alike who contributed so dynamically towards making Cup Match the national institution that it is.

I am thinking not so much about those perennial stars whose exploits with bat and ball and in the field are so well documented. But about those colourful characters such as Ivan (Cat) Ratteray, Hilly Brangman, Bobby Burcher, Barnum DeShields, 'Tom Copper' Johnson and Neddy Simmons, just to name a few Somersetians. Their barbs and blasts from the hillside and around the field proved to be both intimidating and entertaining at one and the same time to friends and foe alike, depending on the flow of the game.

And a lot depended on how much 'oil' (alcohol) was in their systems and sun in their heads. Not to be discounted were those early, farsighted, very astute club administrators who conceived the infrastructure and put the protocols in place that moved the Cup Match to higher levels as each year came and went.

Among those pace-setters I must mention the like of Henry T. Cann (my Sunday School teacher), who was the man charged with sending to London the specifications for the now priceless silver Cup.

There were the first Norwood (Brodie) Smith (who passed away before I was out of my knickerbockers); Nickie Callabrass, John (Hodder) Simons, who played in the first Cup Match; Sammy Burt (my nearest next-door neighbour who played in the third 1902 game); businessmen Walter Fisher and Warren Simmons, Edward (Blackie) Simons, Harold (Dish) Talbot, all of whom I have interviewed at one time or another. There were also 'Johnny-cake' Swan, T.J. and W.R. Perienchief.

I mention the foregoing, because their offspring are some of the most ardent, fanatical Cup Match fans and present-day administrators.

The same goes for the star players of the early Cup Matches, such as Walter, Freddie and 'Bulla' Darrell, Alec (Cocky) Steede, all St.Georgians; Tommy Durrant, the famous Hunt brothers, Alma 'Champ', Amon, Delbert (Shark-Eye), Desmond, William, Eric, Arnold and Kenneth Hunt (five of them playing at one time in the Somerset Cup team).

Then there were first cousins of the Hunts, Nigel 'Chopper' and Earl Hazel. And no less famous and flamboyant were the Simons brothers, Arthur, Elliott, Austin (Toes) Ambrose, a nephew of John (Hodder) Simons. And, of course, there were those of more recent vintage, nonagenarians Arnim (Sam Porgy) Smith and Burton Paynter and the great Sam Paynter.

Regarding Ivan (the first ) 'Cat' Ratteray, he, like Harold Talbot, served on the battlefields of France in the First World War. 'Cat' was a comic and poet or what we nowadays call 'rapper' of the first order.

Of a similar cut was Bobby Burcher, who wrote and published a song or two for every Cup Match. Another rapper was Hilly Brangman, whose natural voice and giggle could be heard around the field, without benefit of present-day amplification, above the din of all others.

Another singularly great administrator was Percival St. George Ratteray, who served in one capacity or another for 40 years. He was owner and operator of Somerset News Agency. Percy was Somerset's historian, whom I interviewed numerous times for facts and figures. I went to my archives this week for a quote from Percy on what he considered the most sensational Cup Match.

"Personally, I would say the game of 1924," Percy said. "Somerset, who held the Cup, had chosen its team. Just two days before the game, Amon Hunt and Clifford Burrows refused to play (went on strike, as we now say) when their demands to be paid one pound per day instead of ten shillings, were not met. We were relying heavily on them, along with Warren Simmons. They were all-rounders and we needed them. To compound a bad situation, Dick Baxter, our star bowler, broke his finger on the eve of the match. So we had to bring in three mediocre substitutes.

"St. George's had a formidable team with Warbaby Fox, Joe Swainson, Fred (Bulla) Darrell, Cyril Packwood and Kitchner Johnson, each of whom had made centuries in the pre-Cup Match trials. 'Cocky' Steede was feared for the 13 Somerset wickets he had captured in the 1922 game.

"Somerset, batting first, were down for 94 runs. St. George's replied with 134. Somerset, in their second time at bat, made only 87 runs, leaving St. George's with a mere 44 runs to win the Cup.

"They were so confident of victory that the St. George's captain telephoned the Mayor of St. George's before 3 p.m. to get the town ready for a big reception. He estimated the boat Corona would be leaving Somerset at about 4 p.m, with the Cup."

Percy said the fortunes of St. George's changed dramatically when Blackie Simons, with his first delivery, clean bowled Warbaby Fox for a duck. The scoreboard read four for oner. Then it read five for two; 10 for three; 10 for four; 11 for five; 16 for 6; 16 for seven; 23 for eight; all out for 33. Somerset retained the Cup.

"That was the best Cup Match I ever saw," said Percy. "It was sensational to say the least. With all our woes we were lucky to get 90 runs in the first innings. Blackie Simons and Warren Simmons did the bowling. The fielding was tight. Eddie Durrant and Jada Philpot in slips and 'Blackie' at long field were a sight to behold."

Maybe one of these days, if I could get the sponsorship, I will compile in one book similar Cup Match reflections I have recorded down through the year about Cup Match Sensations.

Incidentally, I can state categorically here, that my long awaited book CHAMP!, The One and Only Alma Hunt, which is being printed by the Bermuda Press, will be in full circulation a fortnight or more after this year's Cup Match.

Cup Match will not be the same this year without Diddy Smith, Bermuda's flamboyant 'hat queen' and the St. George's Cricket Club's most ardent Cup Match fan. She passed away two months ago. Though gone she surely will not be forgotten, remembered as seen above with file pictures of fans from previous Cup Matches, exulting over exciting moments during play. Below are former superstars feted by Somerset Club in a Cup Match eve get-together. Among them are Winton (Timmy) Edwards, his brother Ronald Edwards, Kenny Paul, Joe Bailey, Cleve Foggo, Reggie and Randy Horton.