Nyon Steede is hoping to make the most of his last chance to lead Western Stars back into the Premier Division tomorrow when they meet Cleveland in the play-off match at St John’s Field.

Steede, the 44-year-old Stars captain, is stepping aside after this season but would love to go out with his main goal achieved. The odds of beating Cleveland are stacked against them, but Stars did manage to beat another Premier Division team, St George’s, in the Belco Cup to kick-start the season. “St George’s did have a depleted team,” Steede said.

Stars, one of the Island’s top teams before they went into decline after the retirement of their stalwarts about ten years ago, have missed out on promotion on a few occasions since being relegated with Flatts in 2007, including two years ago when they dismissed Cleveland for 136 at Sea Breeze Oval in the play-off but still lost by 29 runs. Cleveland brought out a couple of “retired” players that day and Peter Philpott and Aaron Adams shared in a century partnership as Cleveland recovered from 26 for three.

Andre Manders, the Stars coach who had moved to England, had returned to the Island to take care of some personal matters and decided against playing ahead of one of the club’s youngsters and probably still regrets the decision. He had been playing regularly that season and admits that he might have made a difference.

Now Stars will again rely on veterans such as Steede, Wayne Campbell and player-coach Wendell White to get them over the hump. As Flatts took advantage of the weather to finish top of the First Division and gain automatic promotion, Stars were left to curse their luck after having a couple of matches called off because of the heavy rain last month.

“We had three no-results because of rain and that hurt us,” said Steede, who is also the chairman of the BCB Cricket Committee. “When Flatts played against Devonshire Rec, we had a no-result against Somerset Bridge at St John’s because of rain.

“There was a lot of rain on the field and the umpires said we were unable to play on it, even though we brought the boundaries in. We shared the points and Devonshire won. Then, if we had played the game against Flatts on August 30 at St David’s and won that game, we would have moved back into first place. It’s unfortunate but we still have an opportunity to make it back into the Premier Division.”

Cleveland romped to a comfortable victory over St George’s last weekend to move into the play-off spot after Jason Anderson and Treadwell Gibbons, a former Stars player, both scored centuries. “We played them in the Belco Cup this season and lost, but Jason didn’t make too many runs, from what I recall, nor did Treadie,” Steede said. “It’s just a matter of being consistent, holding on to our catches and not allowing those guys to have another bite at the apple.

“Our bowling this season has been really good, the batting up and down, but what has been hurting us is week to week we don’t have a consistent team. When it comes down to the end of the season a lot of the players who start the season, you don’t have at the end — some through injury or just not getting enough playing time throughout the season and deciding not to play.”

Steede added: “With Wendell White in the mix this year, that’s another strong player we can utilise and we’re definitely going to need him against Cleveland.”

If they do manage to pull off the upset, the hard work will only be starting for a young Stars team that would need reinforcements. “Even with promotion, we are going to need some new players or players coming back to Stars because I don’t think with the players that we have that we are good enough to stay up,” Steede said.

“Hopefully that will happen because I have already told the club this is my last season and they will have to find a new captain as well. I told them the only time I’ll play is if they are short and they need my help.”

The likes of Temiko Wilson, who was captain when Steede was abroad, Brian Hall, Seion Darrell and Seth Campbell have been key players for Stars this season, while another Manders is showing promise as a young spinner. Jaden, the son of Anthony Manders, is one for the future, says Steede.

“He’s 14 and has good potential as a spin bowler, and that’s what Stars need,” he said. “He’s very aggressive with the bat, too.”