OJ Pitcher returns to the St David’s team after missing last weekend’s matches, but the club will stick with Delyone Borden as captain in tomorrow’s Twenty20 final against Bailey’s Bay at Sea Breeze Oval.

Both teams will be missing key all-rounders, with Bay, the two-times defending champions, without Malachi Jones, while Justin Pitcher, of St David’s, is also off the island. Pitcher guided St David’s into the final last weekend when he claimed four for 17 as Southampton Rangers were dismissed for just 76, then top-scored with 28 as St David’s reached their target with 6.1 overs remaining.

George Cannonier, the St David’s coach, admits that Pitcher will be missed tomorrow. “I’ll miss Justin, he’s probably in the best form of just about anyone, bat and ball,” Cannonier said. “He carries the team and this will be the second game he will miss. Someone else will just have to step up to the plate. We can’t take Bay for granted, they’ve got a good crop of players up there.”

Both teams have strong squads, with veteran Ricky Hoyte coming in to play his first game of the season in Jones’s absence. Seamer Nyrobi Mills, 14, keeps his spot in the Bay team after playing the last two games, while wicketkeeper Sinclair Smith returns.

Jones helped Bay reach their third straight final last weekend with victory over Somerset Cricket Club, scoring 35 runs from 20 balls as an opener.

St David’s are still well stocked in attack, where they have seamers George O’Brien, Rudell Pitcher, Kevin Hurdle and Cejay Outerbridge and spinners Borden, Dion Stovell and Allan Douglas. They have not had any major issues with team selection.

“We really haven’t had a problem, guys have been unavailable because of trips and other reasons,” Cannonier said. “Hurdle played the first couple of games but was sick in the last two so he will be back.

“We plan a rotation but things just happen in a way that everybody is accommodated. The same thing happened last year and it really hasn’t been a problem. OJ didn’t play last weekend and this weekend we thought we would take some pressure off him. Delyone filled in and did a great job.”

Cannonier admits the team are aiming to go undefeated this season as they look to defend their league and Eastern Counties titles.

“That was the plan last year but lost a couple of games,” the coach revealed. “We hope to defend the Eastern Counties and the league and the best way to defend them is to go undefeated. We’ve got a well-balanced team, I’m sure Bay do, too, so we’ll see how it goes on the day.”

The match starts at 3.30pm and will follow the Plate final between Devonshire Rec and Tuff Dogs, which begins at 11am.

Teams

Bailey’s Bay Rodney Trott (captain), Terryn Fray, Stephen Outerbridge, Kyle Hodsoll, Zeko Burgess, Sinclair Smith, Nyrobi Mills, Derrick Brangman, Ricky Hoyte, Coolridge Durham, Azende Furbert.

St David’s Delyone Borden (captain), George O’Brien, OJ Pitcher, Dion Stovell, Allan Douglas, Ankoma Cannonier, Rudell Pitcher, Shannon Rayner, Kevin Hurdle, Cejay Outerbridge, Ajuan Lambe.