Terryn Fray has taken over the Bailey’s Bay captaincy full time from Rodney Trott and is looking forward to a competitive season when the campaign begins this weekend.

Bay begin their season against Eastern Counties rivals Flatts today at home and St David’s tomorrow at Lord’s, with Fray in charge of both the Twenty20 and 50-overs teams after leading the team in the 20-overs games last season.

“It was something that was in the works, it was spoken about the season before last and last season Rodney stepped down from the T20 captaincy so I was the T20 captain,” explained Fray, who also shared the Bermuda captaincy with Dion Stovell last season, leading the team in the 50 overs while Stovell was the T20 captain.

“This year, Rodney said he didn’t want to do it any more, just focus on his cricket. It was a pretty easy transition, being a part of the national team and captain there. It’s good to get the experience at a higher level and then coming back you get to try those things you learnt internationally back at your club.

“Right now, we have a family of players so it’s not like we have a bunch of guys we don’t know. Everyone knows each other so there is a mutual respect and it should be an easy transition, hopefully. When things are against the wall is when you are really tested. We’ll see how we cope when things aren’t really going our way.”

Noel Gibbons and Irving Romaine are again the coaches of the team as Fray gets set for a long season which also includes international matches in August when Bermuda hosts the ICC Americas T20 Qualifier two weeks after Cup Match.

Fray revealed this could be a year to give some exposure to young players, who have been out training with the team in pre-season.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge, we have some young guys who are showing a lot of commitment,” Fray stressed. “More so than some of the senior guys, so it is almost an obligation to play the young guys and see how well they can do in this league.

“A few have been on the fringe for the past two or three seasons, so this might be a full season for them where they can be key players in what we have for the season. Jordan Burgess, only 17, is one who we’re looking to groom through the process. Hopefully he can get off to a good start for us this weekend.

“We haven’t lost anyone but for the guys who are mentally not here, it is the same as losing someone.

“There are one or two senior guys who haven’t been around as much as we would have liked. But no hard feelings as they have other things going on in their life and we respect that.

“It just leaves room for one of the younger guys to pick up where they left off. It’s all about momentum, our first game this weekend is Flatts who we’re not taking lightly. There have been First Division teams who have come up and done really well.

“I told my players that just because it is Flatts and they haven’t played in the top league for a few seasons, don’t think it is going to be a walk in the park. This week we have been stressing a lot of the basics, so hopefully we can get right into the swing of things and make as few mistakes as possible.”

Fray has had little rest following a full season of football with North Village. “Right now it is chock-a-block for me, training almost every day,” said Fray, who has also been training with the Bermuda team a couple of times a week.

“Friday is the only day I don’t train with a team, but I still try to do my extras in the gym. With the league being two days on the weekend, you are looking at six days of cricket. I appreciate training with the national team because it is fitness-based right now.

“It’s is going to be busy during the height of summer around Cup Match. There is a lot of cricket to be played, which is good for the island, with a new national coach Herbie Bascome and some players coming back out. “It’s good to have OJ Pitcher back out, a great cricketer and captain of Bermuda a couple of years back.”

In today’s other Premier Division match, Cleveland play champions Southampton Rangers at Wellington Oval. Tomorrow, Rangers are at home to Flatts while St George’s take on Cleveland at Wellington.

In the First Division today, Warwick play Western Stars at Southampton Oval, Somerset Bridge meet Willow Cuts at White Hill and Devonshire Rec take on PHC at home. Tomorrow, Somerset CC host Devonshire Rec, Bridge meet Warwick at White Hill and PHC play Willow Cuts at PHC Field. All games start at 11am.