Local cricket is mourning the losses to two of its charismatic figures who gave dedicated years of service to the sport.

Maurice (Toe) Outerbridge and Neville (Hockey) Whitecross were both recently laid to rest.

Outerbridge was a well-known figure at Somerset Bridge Recreation Club where he tended to the grounds for many years and later the West End Sailboat Club, while Whitecross was a former executive and cricket scorer at neighbouring Somerset Cricket Club.

The latter deceased was the mentor of Bermuda?s first ever female cricket scorer, Evette Brangman, who still scores for the West End club to this present day.

?Whitecross served on the executive management committee at Somerset Cricket Club under people like Arthur Wade, Albert and Clyde Philpott and Erskine Brangman,? recalled long-time friend Darnley Smith yesterday.

?He also served as club secretary and chairman for entertainment along with Melvin (Melly) Brangman who was his assistant. Together they achieved quite a bit including organising the annual President?s Ball.?

Smith added: ?Before he (Whitecross) retired from scorekeeping he trained the first female scorer (Brangman). And she is still the club?s scorer to this day.?

Outerbridge, meanwhile, will long be remembered for 25 years of dedicated service preparing the cricket pitch ? always with his beloved ?cold one? in hand ? at nearby White Hill Field after the club switched from concrete to turf wickets in the mid-70s.

?Toe (Outerbridge) had strong views and was a dedicated worker,? recalled former Somerset Bridge Recreation Club wicketkeeper and executive Kenneth (Pop) Simmons Jr.

?When he worked at the club he treated the clubhouse and the grounds as if they were his own ? he kept them in immaculate shape,? Simmons added. ?It made us all very proud when commentators and other teams would comment on the grounds whether it was football or cricket games or special events like the annual Round Table Race. He really took pride in what he did.

?He really kept the Somerset Bridge community dear to his heart and that?s what he lived for. He was concerned about everything that was happening in and around the community. It is people like Toe (Outerbridge) who shape communities. People such as Toe are people we need to recognise and not a statue of a man who waves to the traffic everyday on Crow Lane. There are a lot of others out there who helped shape entire communities.?