Red hot Warriors the team to beat
Can anyone in Bermuda stop St David’s? It seems unlikely.Following two crushing wins over Premier Division defending champions Southampton Rangers, the Islanders are looking like champions-elect and the season isn’t yet a month old.The 50-over leagues take a break this weekend, aside from Social Club and PHC clashing at Wellington Oval today, and the Lindos Twenty20 competition gets underway.Unbeaten in the Premier Division, St David’s have been unstoppable in the shortest form of the game since its inception in 2008. The undisputed T20 kings of Bermuda, the Warriors haven’t lost a match in the past three years, and that doesn’t look like changing any time soon.Devonshire Rec will be latest team to try their luck at unseating the defending champions when they travel to Lords tomorrow, and while the off-season acquisition of Dean Stephens and Ricardo Brangman will add some brutality to their batting line-up, it isn’t likely to be enough.With a team bursting at the seams with match-winners, several St David’s players have also had the chance to practise their T20 skills already this season, in the ill-fated Elite Player League.More known for his batting than his bowling, Sammy Robinson could prove to be a potent weapon with the ball having taken three wickets and conceded just 36 runs in the eight overs he has bowled in the EPL so far.Lionel Cann is also in typically brutal form, as his 66 for Parfitt XI last weekend showed.Despite their poor start to the season, Rangers shouldn’t be written off either, especially with a batting line-up that includes the likes of Dion Stovell, Curtis Jackson, Shannon Rayner and Janeiro Tucker.A mid-season tour means that they will play three games this weekend, a double-header against Somerset and Warwick today at Southampton Oval, and a match against Flatts at Somerset Cricket Club tomorrow.However, while in any other year Rangers would be expected to get three wins quite easily, there are question marks over their mental approach this time around, and a Flatts team featuring Regino Smith and Kevin Hurdle might fancy their chances of causing an upset.A PHC team that has struggled so far might have been given a tough game by Leg Trappers tomorrow, but Trappers have been unable to raise a team for this weekend.While Trappers are hopefully of playing some part in the T20 competition, the Commercial League XI have pulled out after CCL officials only learned of their inclusion in mid-week.“It was the first we knew about it,” said CCL president Armell Thomas. “We’re already a month into the season and most of the T20 matches are on Sundays, which would wreck our own schedule as we only play on Sundays. Unfortunately, we’ll have to decline the offer this season.”BCB executive officer Neil Speight admitted a “miscommunication” had caused the problem. “Just a reminder note that the Commercial XI plays their first game in the T20 league this weekend at 1430 at Somerset CC. Please confirm your squad is ready for this fixture,” Speight said in an e-mail to CCL vice-president Ivan Clifford on Wednesday.Told the CCL had decided to withdraw, Speight said: “No problem sorry there was miscommunication. I guess perhaps people assumed that you would be in again after last year.”In tomorrow’s other games, Bailey’s Bay will take on St George’s at Lords (2.30 pm), Social Club face Cleveland at Somerset, and in a double-header at St John’s, Warwick take on Somerset, and Somerset Bridge face Western Stars.