Tuff Dogs have included Kamau Leverock as one of their two guest players, as well as veterans Curtis Jackson and Dennis Musson for their first round Central Counties clash with holders Devonshire Rec tomorrow at the Rec.

Tuff Dogs made history in 2018 when they became the first Evening Cricket League club to win a counties match, beating Western Stars by three wickets in the first round.

Now they will be looking to cause another upset in the two-match competition, though captain Terence Corday isn’t taking the holders lightly.

“I think we have fielded as strong a team as we can given who was available and our ages,” said Corday who has been playing in the Premier Division with Somerset this season.

“Not sure of our chances as I haven’t followed much First Division cricket this year and don’t know much about Devonshire Rec’s squad or who their guests are. We will be underdogs for sure, but will hope to put up a fight and try to regain the Central Counties trophy.”

Missing from Tuff Dogs side are former Cup Match players Arnold Manders and Dean Minors, as well as Azeem Khan and Tim Davies. In comes Leverock as a surprise selection, fresh off a Cup Match victory with Somerset after his return from England. He also recently played for Flatts in the first round of the Eastern Counties.

Leverock, who is a team-mate of Corday at Somerset, can be devastating with both the bat and ball. Along with Musson they will be a tremendous boost to the Tuff Dogs bowling attack.

Also in the Tuff Dogs team is Jordan DeSilva, the Somerset Cup Match captain, although it is uncertain if he will bowl his left-arm medium, having not done so in the past few Somerset games, including Cup Match, because of illness.

“We are missing Azeem Khan at the top of the order and Tim Davies, the Australian, who played for us the last few seasons,” Corday said. “He has moved to Cayman Islands.

“But we have picked up some veterans in Musson and Jackson, and of course our two guest players speak for themselves. Kamau has had ties with Tuff Dogs for a long time with his mother playing softball for the team years ago.

“He had expressed interest a few years back but timing never worked out. Lucky for us, he is on island and eager to play. He and Delray [Rawlins] showed their class a couple of years ago in the T20 tournament and they are the top two all-rounders Bermuda have at the moment.

“He is obviously someone we are going to lean on heavily with both the bat and ball this weekend.”

Devonshire Rec have named two guest players, Ricardo Brangman of St David’s and Onias Bascome, the St George’s captain, who joins cousin Drewonde Bascome in the team.

“We actually beat them to win the cup in 2019 so we’re definitely positive going into this match and retaining the trophy, ” said manager Dennis Williams just after the team was selected last night.

“We understand they have a veteran team so it’s going to be quite challenging, but we have put in a couple of good weeks of training and are looking for a positive result.

“Playing 50 overs is going to be a challenge after playing 20 overs all year, but the guys are geared up for it.”

The winners of this match will meet Western Stars in the final on August 21.

The Western Counties will host their third round tomorrow when new cup holders PHC take on Willow Cuts at White Hill Field. PHC dethroned Warwick in the last round when they handed them a 119-run defeat in the second round after Davin Dill scored a maiden counties century (111 not out) in PHC’s total of 290. Warwick replied with 171 all out.

Devonshire Rec (from): Alafia Henry (captain), Ricardo Brangman, Tarik Jennings, Clay Darrell, Onias Bascome), Drewonde Bascome, Chris Dailey, Rudell Pitcher, Aljame Zuill, Dion Ball, Koshun Simmons, Devin Carr, Cory Tucker-Smith.

Tuff Dogs: Terence Corday (captain), Justin Barritt, McLaren Lowe, Curtis Jackson, Trevor Corday, Jordan DeSilva, Kamau Leverock, Justin Corday, Janaka Perrera, Dennis Musson, Davon Wade. Reserves: Matt Fullerton, Jonah Faria, Somers Carr.