Bay or Western Stars will not be in the Knockout Cup after tomorrow's semi-finals.

That's because the two teams will meet in one semi-final at Southampton Oval while the other match will see St. George's taking on Southampton Rangers in the other at Devonshire Rec.

Few would argue, except St. George's and their supporters, that a Bay-Stars final would probably provide the best final, especially in the wake of the high scoring league match recently between Bay and Stars at Sea Breeze Oval.

There is bound to be some unfinished business to attend to after Bay posted 280-3 and Stars replied with 200-5 in a match that saw three centuries.

Stars also just replaced Bay as league champions so this will be a grudge match of sorts as both teams look to gain bragging rights. This is also a cup Bay hold and they will not be too eager to lose this one, too, to one of their biggest rivals.

On the tight Southampton Oval another high scoring match looks in store even though both teams will be missing key batsmen. Just who will be missed more is debatable as Stars, deep in reserves, fill a spot vacated by Albert Steede who will be on his honeymoon, while Bay will be without veteran allrounder Noel Gibbons and batsman Glenn Smith, both of whom are in England.

Steede was one of three players who scored a century in that last meeting between the teams, with Charlie Marshall and Ricky Hill being the other. Both have key roles to play as Bay try to make up for the disappointment of losing the league title.

Hill will again lead the Bay team in the absence of Chris Smith while Clarkie Trott returns to boost their attack alongwith Anthony Braithwaite and Corey Hill.

In the past few years the finals have traditionally been held at the end of the season when there has appeared to be little interest shown by one of the teams. The fact that this year's final will be about a month earlier than last season, and with three of the top teams still remaining, should serve to generate some interest in both the semi-finals and finals.

The last three finals have been held at White Hill field with the closest being the 1992 final between Bay and Stars which Bay won by 13 runs. St.

George's and Southampton Rangers are also past winners, St. George's last winning in 1983 and Rangers triumphing in 1990 when they beat St. George's by seven wickets in a rain-affected final at their own ground.

St. George's are apparantly not too happy about having their match switched from Police Field but some of their bigger limited overs victories have been on that ground, including a high-scoring Camel Cup semi-final triumph over Stars there in 1989 and a 10-wicket win over a short-handed Rangers team in the knockout semi-finals in 1993.

St. George's should still be favoured over Rangers in this match even though they will be missing Dean Minors and almost certainly their other wicketkeeper, Lewis Foggo, who has not played since being overlooked for Cup Match.

The batting will be led by Wendell, Dexter and Clay Smith, who returned to form with a dashing 96 last weekend against PHC, as well as the likes of captain Graham Fox, Clevie Wade, Ricky Hodsoll and Eugene Foggo. Wade, Hodsoll, Foggo and David Adams are the key bowlers.

Rangers were without Keith Wainwright, David Stoneham and Janeiro Tucker last weekend in the loss to Bailey's Bay but all three should be back for this important weekend which also includes a meeting with Willow Cuts in the second round of the Western Counties.