last night brushing past the Bahamas 16-4 in their opening series of matches.

But it was reigning champions the Cayman Islands who enjoyed the most successful day, slamming Jamaica, winners of the tournament a record 11 times, by an astonishing 18 matches to one.

Tommy Sherratt, Bermuda's number one, made a slow start but came back in his match with Lester Cox to win 3-1.

Number two Nicky Kyme, Julian Rose and Richard Brewer all had convincing 3-0 victories, while the only loser among the Men's A team was Jan Brewer, who was edged out 10-8 in a fifth game by the Bahamas' Paul Brown. The Men's B team completed a 5-0 clean sweep, number one Dick Meredith being the only player to concede a game as he beat Adrian Burrows 3-2. Ladies' number one Janine Bentley suffered a 3-0 reverse in a very tough game against Seraphin Johnson.

The winner of the Club Championship and OBM Tournament had taken over top spot from the club's director of squash Jane Parker who was replaced in the team by Anita Yates after deciding against risking her injured knee.

The Bahamas picked up two of their victories in the Veterans' section, where Roger Sherratt was the host nation's only winner. He beat Mike Pilgrim 3-0.

Sherratt said afterwards: "It's clear from the matches so far that the competition is going to be between the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. That makes it exciting because we play each other on Saturday afternoon in the final match.'' Jamaica, meanwhile, were up against it from the start, fielding just 13 of the 20 players needed for a full team. While their Men's A and Ladies teams had a full complement, the Men's B team was two short and there were no veterans.

It meant they were effectively already 7-0 down before play commenced.

However, Jamaica ladies' number five string Michele Hamilton went against the tide taking the only victory for her side with a fine 3-0 win over Anne Tyler.

But Jamaican veteran Dougie Beckford, playing this year for the Men's A team had a close encounter, taking his match with Cayman number four Frank Brennan to a fourth game which he lost 10-9.