Tomorrow will mark only the third time in the last 25 years a Somerset Cup Match team will be without a member of the Hill family.

Somerset opening bowler Corey Hill was a surprise omission this year from the champions? team, though his descent proved far more subtle than that of older brother Ricky.

At the time vice-captain of Somerset, and arguably the Island?s top wicketkeeper, an angry Ricky Hill stormed out of Somerset during a Cup Match trial match in 1994 and never again represented the West Enders in the classic after debuting in 1980 at Wellington Oval.

The younger Hill, who made his debut in 1996, insists his Cup Match days are also now over after being excluded ? for the second time ? from the team to defend the cup tomorrow and Friday in the East End.

?I wish Janeiro (Somerset skipper Janeiro Tucker) and the rest of the guys the best of luck but I can assure you that you will never see me in another classic,? Hill declared.

?But I wasn?t shocked because I haven?t been having a particularly good year with the ball and I prepared myself for this even though I have been Somerset?s leading bowler for the past two years. Sluggo (Dwayne Leverock) has been the most economical but I have been the best over the last two years. And knowing how selection goes I didn?t think that would carry me through because I know people tend to forget and you are only as good as your last game.?

The year 2005 might even go down as one of Corey Hill?s worst, having been a part of the Hamilton Parish football team that lost the FA Cup final, overlooked for Bermuda?s ICC Trophy squad and then finally dropped from Cup Match.

At age 36, Hill said years of playing sports had taken their toll on his body.

?I?m just not feeling it at the moment or have the passion I once had,? he lamented.

While the veteran Bailey?s Bay all-rounder managed to take things all in stride, Hill said his mother, Millicent, would have been more disappointed with the turn of events.

?She?s probably more disappointed than me but I?m fine,? Hill said. ?I?m more concerned about how she feels because I was able to get over it quickly. But I have a few big projects going on outside of sports which are keeping me busy and at the end of the day life does go on.?

In 1996, Glenn Blakeney became Hill?s first Cup Match victim and one of many memorable moments the player will forever cherish. And then there was smashing former St.George?s spinner David (Chick) Adams for three straight sixes (96) and Blakeney?s towering six off Hill off the very first ball of the 2002 classic at Somerset Cricket Club.

?Hitting Chick Adams down Lopes (Lopes Garden) for three consecutive sixes as a colt was perhaps my best moment,? Hill smiled. ?I was a colt and we won in Somerset.?

In 2002, Hill was at the crease when the winning runs were scored at Somerset and then there was Bailey?s Bay team-mate Blakeney, also dropped for this year?s classic.

Hill recalled:? The question was put to my brother Ricky and Glenn as opening batsmen what would they most like to achieve and they both replied ?hit a six off the first ball in Cup Match?.

?That year both Glenn and myself were selected and so I took him up on the challenge. I dropped one short and he got inside and hit me up against the clubhouse. After that we both just looked at each other and he nodded at me as if to say ?I got you.?

Hill, however, had the last laugh as he was at the crease when the winning runs were scored and the mission of defending the cup on home soil accomplished.