St David’s will be without the services of in-form batter Marcus Scotland for their Premier Division 50 overs clash against Western Stars at Sea Breeze Oval tomorrow.

The 21-year-old has been given the weekend off as he recovers from a strained knee he suffered on the way to a maiden century for St David’s against Cleveland at Lord’s.

“We are going to give Marcus a break this week to let him rest up,” St David’s captain Derrick Brangman told The Royal Gazette.

Scotland hammered 114 from 94 balls and added 122 with opening partner Dean Simons (40) for the first wicket before he retired hurt in his team’s emphatic eight-wicket win over their Eastern Counties rivals.

St David’s are off to flying start, having gone unbeaten so far this season, and will be keen to preserve their unblemished record against Stars.

Brangman is backing his team to come away with the desired outcome, but isn’t looking past a Stars team who have already beaten champions Bailey’s Bay.

“We are not going to take them lightly, but we should be able to handle Stars with the team we have this year,” he added.

Stars will be keen to get back to winnings ways, having suffered successive defeats by St George’s and Cleveland.

“We have been training hard pretty hard this week because we had two losses back-to-back so we know we need to bounce back with a W,” Stars captain Tre Manders said.

“St David’s have been playing very well this season, so we definitely need to be on our toes with them. They have been playing some good cricket.”

Manders hopes his team can continue their recent dominance over their rivals.

“We have had their number the last couple of seasons, so hopefully we keep that up,” he added. “If we do the right things I am sure we will be all right.

“But I know they are going to come hard as well because they are on a high right now, especially beating a good St George’s side, so we can’t take them lightly this year.”

Tomorrow’s remaining top-flight matches will see St George’s take on Willow Cuts at Somerset Cricket Club while Cleveland host Somerset at Wellington Oval.

St George’s got back to winning ways with a 136-run win over Somerset at Wellington Oval last weekend while Cuts went down by 108 runs in their belated season opener against Bay at Somerset Cricket Club.

Bay, whose win over Cuts was their first for the season, have a bye.

First Division 50 overs action resumes today with Somerset Bridge hosting Bermuda Under-19 at PHC Field, with promotion hopefuls Warwick and Devonshire Rec doing battle at Southampton Oval and Flatts taking on winless Southampton Rangers at PHC Field tomorrow. PHC have a bye.