St George’s will be without the services of captain Onias Bascome for their Premier Division 50 Overs East End derby against champions St David’s at Wellington Oval tomorrow.

The all-rounder has been ruled out through a shoulder injury suffered in the nine-wicket thrashing of Southampton Rangers in the season opener last weekend at the same venue.

Wicketkeeper Sinclair Smith will now lead the hosts in the absence of Bascome, whose unavailability has deprived them of a key cog in both the bowling and batting departments.

“Unfortunately for us, we have one or two injuries that’s going to hinder us a little bit,” Clay Smith, the St George’s coach, said. “However, we still have to go out there and perform and try to execute the game plan and come out with the win.”

Smith’s son, Jonté, is the other player ruled out through a knee injury.

As for his team’s next opponent, former St George’s and Bermuda batter Smith is bracing himself for what he anticipates will be another evenly fought contest against the visitors, who are making their season debut having had a bye in the previous round of the competition.

“As you know these games are won or lost by the smallest of margins and to be honest I don’t think there’s too much separating both teams,” he added.

Smith believesthe match could also potentially have a strong bearing on the title race.

“This second game of the season could be a decisive game as to how the eventual title unfolds,” he said.

“It has a lot to determine, so we have to go out there and perform well regardless of the circumstances.

“We are also at home and we always want to defend our home pitch.

“Hopefully, all goes well and we look forward to having a good weekend and encourage everyone to come down to what will probably be the game of the weekend.”

While he is generally pleased with his team’s emphatic display against Rangers, Smith highlighted an area of concern on the eve of their next assignment.

“Last week, I thought my boys put in a decent performance against Rangers,” he added. “Rangers had a few good players that performed decently.

“Even though we bowled them out for 77, I think we could have bowled a lot better; that’s an area that we want to improve upon.”

Meanwhile, tomorrow’s remaining fixtures will see Bailey’s Bay host Rangers at Sea Breeze Oval while Warwick will do battle with Western Stars at Southampton Oval.

Bay also got their season off to the perfect start with a convincing 95-run win over Warwick in their previous outing at Sea Breeze, while Western Stars lost by six wickets at Somerset Cricket Club against Cleveland, who have a bye this weekend.