Bermudian David Ferreira is planning to give his fellow countrymen a hard time -- at least on the field of play.

Captain of Eton College for the first time in just his second year with the team, the 18-year-old leads the English school on a six-game tour of the Island in matches against Bermuda's under-19s, two senior selects and Premier Division champions Southampton Rangers.

The tour opener is tomorrow against the West under-19 Select at Devonshire Rec., starting at 11 a.m. The team arrived from England on Tuesday evening and spent the morning yesterday training at Southampton Oval.

Unlike some tours that are awarded as bonuses coming off successful seasons and taken lightly by the players, the visit by Eton is anything but a relaxation stint for the team.

Ferreira said they would be taking things seriously, approaching all matches as if they were important league fixtures.

One important aspect of the tour was to use it as vital preparation for their prestigious match-up against rivals Harrow, a clash that takes place at the famous Lord's ground on May 25.

"We are definitely looking at this tour as serious, it is extremely important for us, because we need to sort out the team as early as possible for this Lord's clash,'' said Ferreira.

"We intend to be very competitive against all of the local opposition, we are capable of making a game out of every one of the six matches.'' And team manager Ralph Oliphant-Callum agreed, adding: "We are using it as a vital preparation for our season and we certainly want to be ready for the challenge at Lord's against Harrow. We feel that the competitive matches that we will be involved in here will help us a great deal.

"We have a very young squad with several boys just been involved with us for a season or two, but we are hoping that they will learn a lot from the competition we get here so that we can build on in the future.

"Touring is always a great experience, there are different cultures, styles, conditions etc., which contributes to the development of the player.'' Amazingly, it will be the second successive year that the Eton v Harrow fixture has featured a Bermudian captain. Last year, Sam Stevens captained Harrow, although the game was not played because of rain.

Ferreira's case is interesting. In addition to being the Eton captain he is also wicketkeeper and the number three bat.

A former student at Saltus Grammar School where he didn't play much cricket at all, Ferreira left Bermuda for England when he was just seven years-old and it was only then that he got involved with the sport of cricket.

He was eventually promoted to captain of the under-14s and advanced to that position in the under-15s and under-16s before becoming skipper of the senior school side.

Formulating a solid squad for the tough season ahead in England, which runs from the end of April to mid-July, is his priority.