Injury has forced Forties' influential skipper Gordon Campbell out of the remainder of the Commercial Cricket League season.

Campbell, at 58 the oldest cricketer regularly playing in the league, needed an operation after tearing his left Achilles tendon in an Evening League match last week while batting for The Associates.

Campbell suffered the injury as he attempted to avoid colliding with teammate Gary Knight as the pair set off for run.

"The injury happened when I tried to push off to avoid running into Gary," said Campbell. "I'm extremely disappointed to miss the rest of the season."

Campbell had hoped to spearhead Forties' challenge for a 16th Knockout Cup title in 27 years and was also keen to be a member of the Commercial League squad who are set to make their debut in a Bermuda Cricket Board event, the Twenty20 tournament starting later this month.

Forties, who finished runners-up to high-flying Spring Garden Cavaliers in the league, have been drawn against defending champions North Village in the Knockout Cup semi-finals on August 22.

Cavaliers, odds-on favourites to complete an unprecedented sweep of the three main titles this season, will get the KO tournament underway on August 15 with a preliminary round match against BC Allrounders.

The winners of that tie will meet Jamaican Association in the other semi-final.

This Sunday Cavaliers, led by skipper Dave Greenidge, who will also captain the Commercial League side in the BCB Twenty20, will attempt to notch up their second title of the season when they meet the winners of the second Twenty20 semi-final, between North Village and Jamaican Association, in the final at Shelly Bay.

Cavaliers reached the final earlier in the season by dispatching Forties and BC Allrounders.

Village and the Jamaicans have struggled in the league this season, finishing third and fourth respectively, but on paper there is little to choose between them.

Village skipper Allen Walker conceded: "We have been very inconsistent this season in league play but Twenty20 is a very exciting format which I think will suit our players' style of play. We look forward to our challenge."

Jamaican Association manager Glenmore Barrett says Junior Lindo is still away because of a family bereavement while Keniek Wallen is on holiday.

"I'm not sure if Junior is going to be back by Sunday, so I'll probably have to play a couple of our youngsters," said Barrett whose side have twice played short recently.

Cavaliers, meanwhile, are confident ahead of Sunday's final.

"We feel we can beat any side in the league in this format, indeed in any format," said spokesman Richard Foulds. "We relish the favourites tag, we are well led, and have the power hitters and the stroke players to chase down any total posted.

"We do have a weakened bowling line-up at the moment, with Trevor Haynes still vacationing in Barbados, and Steve Diamond's and Lloyd Morrison's work commitments meaning that they can only play occasionally.

"This dearth of bowling, along with the fact that the rules of the Twenty/20 mean that each bowler only has four overs, means we'll have to call on resources only occasionally used — those bowlers who would ordinarily carry the label 'Caution — Nets only'.

"We do, however, have Craig Smith, who is miserly with the ball while being able to take wickets along the way.

"In the two Commercial Twenty/20 games we played in June, he posted figures of three for nine in four overs against BC Allrounders and two for 12 from four against Forties, so we'll be looking for similar consistency from him."

Added Foulds: "We also have our main strength which is our batting, so we'll be looking to either bat the opposition out of the game if batting first, or stay within touching distance if chasing a score. Whoever we play in the final, they will know that they'll have to score an awful lot of runs to be in with a chance of winning.

"If its North Village, they'll remember that they haven't managed to dismiss Jeff DeSilva in the two league matches this year, when he scored 166 not out and 51 not out.

"If it's Jamaican Association, they'll also remember Jeff, with scores of 128 and 87 in his games against them. Each side has conceded over 300 runs in a Commercial League match against us."

The semi-final starts at 12.30 p.m. with the final following at 3.30 p.m.