especially those with the most to lose -- when they voted on the proposed format change to the league's structure on Tuesday night at a special general meeting at Warwick Workmen's Club.

Subsequently the plan to return to the Super Eight was defeated, as clubs which finished in the bottom half of the standings last season and stood to lose out by being placed in the lower division, voted against separating the 17 teams in the league.

"At the end of the day it was put to vote and the majority of clubs rejected it,'' said Bermuda Cricket Board of Control president Ed Bailey yesterday.

Bailey saw the return to the Super Eight as a way of improving the standard of cricket among the top clubs which he subsequently hoped would help strengthen the national team in time for the next ICC Trophy tournament in 1997 in Malaysia.

In a 9-6 vote the clubs defeated the proposed format change, those voting against it feeling that the implementation of an `elitist' group would leave them and other clubs lagging behind.

"What it means is we've got to get to the clubs more and get them thinking more on a national level,'' said Bailey. "I'm not saying that I didn't credit a lot of the arguments against it, but in the long run they feel that it would have done more damage than in the short term.'' Bailey said the feelings among the club officials who voted against the change was: "Yes, we would have built up an elitist group and they (Bermuda) might get in the top three in 1997, but how about the competition after that with the guys that would come along and replace them?'' Added the president: "The whole idea of the Super Eight or Premier Division was to get the top 100 players playing against each other and trying to increase the standard of cricket, which means you come down to an elitist group. But people put their own agenda ahead of the country's agenda.

"Some feared if that happened it would destroy their teams and too many players would be leaving the other nine teams to get into the top eight teams.

There were a lot of fears that we could have alleviated over a period of time but it was the immediate impact of these fears that caused most people to reject it.'' Bailey said about 15 clubs were represented at the meeting which lasted roughly one-and-a-half hours. The clubs had about two weeks to consider the format change and discuss it among themselves.

"I could see it had been thoroughly discussed among the clubs because people were talking very intelligently about the whole matter,'' said Bailey.

"Many gave their reasons for rejecting it, they felt it would create a gap between the levels of cricket whereby if you had eight teams at the top then the other nine would fall too far behind them which wouldn't be good for Bermuda's cricket.

"Of course one of the things that precipitated the board to think of this format was that we have the next ICC about 24 months away in Malaysia and we were thinking ahead on a technical point.'' One of the arguments for clubs wishing to return to the Super Eight was that the top teams would be assured of competitive games every weekend instead of playing one of the top teams one weekend and then one of the weaker teams the next, one that might not even be able to field a full team.

Such was the case last season when Bailey's Bay's fine accomplishments were overshadowed by the manner in which they beat neighbours Hamilton Parish to clinch the league championship. Parish went through the motions to assure a Bailey's Bay victory and even some of their own spectators were disappointed by the lack of fight shown by their team in what is usually an eagerly anticipated derby match.

Parish were one of the clubs that struggled to field a full team during the latter part of the season.

Some of the proposed changes for the 1995 season include starting matches at 11 a.m. and ending at 7 p.m. with 110 overs to be bowled in the day and each team entitled to 55 overs.

There will be a half hour break between innings, scheduled for 2.45. The points structure is for 10 points to be awarded for a win, five for a draw and six for a tie. There is one point for a no result. There will also be bonus points put in place.

The season is tentatively scheduled to start on April 16 with the league season to be completed by August 20. The BF&M competition will commence on the weekend of September 2 while the Camel Cup, usually held in May, will be rescheduled to avoid clashing with the dates of the Australian tour.

Ed Bailey