SKIPPER Chris Park admitted Bournemouth had been left with “egg on our faces” after withdrawing from the Royal London Club Championship.

Lions sacrificed the national competition four days before their scheduled group semi-final match at Surrey club Normandy.

Park was unavailable due to his Dorset commitments, with all-rounder Simon Woodruff similarly indisposed owing to county duty.

With spinner Dom Clutterbuck and batsman Luke Matthews away at university, Bournemouth chose to prioritise an under-19 T20 fixture against Ventnor – only for the Islanders to bail out of that match.

Park told the Daily Echo: “With the Minor Counties game and Dom and Luke at university, we were already a few players down.

“The under-19 T20 tournament was set to start on the Isle of Wight and we already had the ferry and minibus booked for our team, so we prioritised having that covered. We pulled out of the game in Normandy a few days beforehand and had a team set to go to the Island.

“But on Saturday morning Ventnor cried off because of lack of numbers, so we have prioritised one competition and ended up being given a bye in it anyway.

“It left us with egg on our faces, which is disappointing.”