Dear Sir,

If someone had told me a couple of weeks ago that Bailey's Bay and Somerset Bridge would be contesting the Champion of Champions Trophy this weekend I would have concluded that they were either `well-lubricated' or smoking some of that `wacky tabakky'.

Both teams can claim well-deserved victories as County champions.

I was especially pleased to see Jermaine Warner and Curtis Jackson do well with the bat. I recall `Socks' ending up on one knee as he played an exquisite cover drive that cut a path through the grass on its way to the boundary. I thought to myself that shot alone was worth the price of admission.

Jackson, who scored his first fifty in Cup Match this year, literally carried Somerset Bridge's batting on his shoulders with his monumental 182 not out and enabled them to dethrone a Southampton outfit loaded with big name players. Both players deserve a lot of credit.

It would be amazing if either Bridge or Bay beat Western Stars, as it would mean that the Champion of Champions Trophy would be going to the First Division.

One statement, which did capture my attention, was that made by former Bay skipper Cory Hill prior to Saturday's match.

Hill said: "Ask any of our fans which is more important: Staying in the Premier Division or winning the Eastern Counties? I bet they will say the latter of the two. I believe that our season would not be considered a flop if we finished it off by winning on Saturday." There are many who share Hill's sentiments, I can think of more than one club who place more emphasis on winning their county cup than doing well in the league.

This is unfortunate because the league competition determines which team played consistently well over the entire season and thus are the best in the land. It should be the domestic Trophy all teams prize above any other. Instead what we often see is cricketers lifting their game for county cup and putting precious little effort into regular league play.

While I recognise the difficulty of the league to compete in terms of prestige with a competition that is almost 100 years old, there should be some concern with the lack of regard with which the league championship is currently held.

It appears that it is the league title not the county cup, which represents the proverbial `icing on the cake' these days. Indeed the failure of the board itself to provide weekly league standings to the press demonstrates how little value is placed on the championship.

During my short tenure on the BCBC I suggested that we attempt to secure sponsorship for the league championship. By attaching a financial reward for winning the league I reasoned this would encourage teams to take it a bit more seriously.

Unfortunately, this was not accepted but I maintain it would be one way to make our teams more competitive.

Hopefully, we will get back to the place where all clubs place winning the league title above all over domestic competitions.