Champions Nationals will be strongly favoured to advance past Young Men's Social Club in the first round of the Central Counties Cup on Saturday (11 a.m.).

But captain Darrin Lewis will not be drawn into overlooking the Bluebirds, who have made strides to improve from a largely ineffective 1991 campaign.

"You can't take anybody lightly in cricket,'' said Lewis yesterday. "This is a game that has got to be played and it will be won or lost in the field.'' Nationals won their first county championship since 1964 when they upset Police in the final last year. And Lewis realises they will have a more difficult task in defending this season in the most competitive of the three county competitions.

"The Central Counties has been the top county for years,'' said the National skipper. "A combination of Western Stars, Devonshire Rec. and Police have always been one, two or three in the league.'' Nationals, if successful on Saturday, face Stars on June 6. The winners take on Police on June 13 and Devonshire Rec. await in the June 27 final.

Social Club's last match was a resounding victory over Warwick where they made 261 for seven declared -- their highest total for several seasons. But they were robbed of a final tune-up for the big cup clash when their league match with Willow Cuts was not played because there were no umpires.

The inclusion of former Cup Match star Lee Raynor as player/coach has brought about the biggest change at Social Club -- they have a new attitude to make up for the shortage in personnel.

"Whenever you've got someone to get a team organised, the team starts to believe in themselves,'' explained Lewis. "What Social Club are going through now is the same thing we went through years ago. Players didn't have the confidence to go out there and compete.'' Nationals are just about rounding into form now, confirmed after a seven-wicket defeat of St. George's. They started the season with successive Limited Overs League losses to Somerset, Hamilton Parish and Bailey's Bay.

"We didn't have guys training regularly and that explains why we were doing so badly in the field,'' said Lewis. "The key now is that Jason (Lewis) is doing well with the bat, Beaver (Mark Ray) had a good knock this weekend and I have had a few good knocks.

"When you have a team without star players, the role players have got to do their part. Last year we were drawn in the final. This year we have to be ready game in and game out. We are the defending champions but nobody expects us to retain the cup.

"We have to try to win two out of the three points of the game on the day.'' Lewis mentioned that spinner Bruce Perinchief is nursing an injury that affects his running, but he will play on Saturday.

The starting time of the competition has been put back a half-hour this year and switched to 50 overs from 60. As a result, there will only be one break, for lunch from 2.40 p.m. to 3.20 p.m.

"We're taking a fresh look at it,'' said Central Counties president Gladstone (Sad) Brown, who took over from the late Clayton Butterfield.

Brown is well aware that the Central Counties gets the least exposure of the three in Bermuda and his committee is taking steps to change things. "This year there will be a cash award for the man of the match and we hope to have the second round, third round and final broadcasted,'' he said. "We were not able to secure sponsorship for this weekend.'' Brown added that avenues for better packaging the Central Counties for the public are being explored, as despite having the better teams, the lure to the eastern and western parishes is more enticing. "People like to travel to the Eastern and Western Counties for the outing,'' he said. "We don't have that.'' The Paget Lions Club raised $4,521 for charity from last weekend's inaugural day/night match at the National Stadium.

A release yesterday stated that the funds from the match will be split between the St. John's Ambulance Brigade and LCCA -- $2,260.50 each.

DARRIN LEWIS -- Not counting his chickens.