ago when they meet Western Stars into tomorrow's season-ending Champion of Champions final at Southampton Oval.

Losers by five wickets to Southampton Rangers in last year's final, St.

David's now find themselves taking on even stronger opponents on a day when they themselves will be considerably weakened in the absence of banned player-coach Clay Smith and veteran batsman Allen Richardson who is also serving a suspension.

Stars boast a team of seasoned players and enter the contest as heavy favourites as they chase their third trophy of the season, having won the Knockout Cup last week and before that the Central Counties crown, as well as finishing second in the league. But they haven't won the Champion of Champions since 1989 and skipper Arnold Manders is anxious to make up for lost time.

It remains to be seen what kind of challenge, if any, St. David's can mount while fielding a relatively young team against a Stars line-up which includes Albert Steede, the Island's top scorer in domestic cricket this season, Ricky Brangman, Andre Manders, whose undefeated 61 last week landed them the Knockout Cup, skipper Manders and Jermaine Postlethwaite.

This year's finale features a match-up of the Eastern and Central Counties champions only after the Western Counties were omitted when they failed to establish a winner -- the result of a dispute arising from the second round match between Southampton Rangers and PHC.

Orginal plans called for the champions from the Eastern and Western Counties to meet in the semi-finals today with Stars taking on the winners in tomorrow's final.

But the Western Counties debacle prompted Bermuda Cricket Board of Control to stage just one game.