From the first time Janeiro Tucker grasped a cricket bat in his hand, the Somerset Cup Match skipper was destined for greatness.

After all, Tucker, a fourth-generation player and the classic?s record holder for the highest individual score (186), comes from a family steeped in cricket tradition ? all of whom have left their own legacies in Cup Match and paved the road for the Southampton Rangers stalwart to follow.

Preceding the master blaster were great uncles Arthur, Elliott, O?Brien, Austin and Ambrose Simons ? all deceased ? while even Tucker?s 82 year-old grandmother made her presence felt on the domestic cricket scene in the 1950s and 1960s as the first female skipper of league team Gateway Girls.

Tucker?s great, great uncles, Algin and Ambrose Sr. (both deceased) were also Somerset Cup Match players.

Then, of course, there?s Tucker?s father, John, who needs no introduction, having himself made his mark as both a footballer and a Somerset Cup Match skipper.

Cricket also runs on Janeiro?s mother?s (Belinda) side of the family as his grandfather, the late Gladwin (Puss) DeSilva, played for Western Stars during his heyday.

The holder of multiple Cup Match records, including that of the first-ever Somerset batsman to score first one and then two centuries in St.George?s, eclipsing Lloyd James? previous best of 173 in 2001, Tucker is now poised to rewrite the history books again ? this time as one of only two sons of former Cup Match skippers to follow in their father?s footsteps.

Father John, widely considered as one of the greatest local fielders and all-rounders, vividly recalls his son?s earliest days in the sport.

?Many times after I finished playing a cricket match I would return home and play cricket with Janeiro on the porch or in the hallways (inside the house) and teach him the basics. I used to take Janeiro with me to practically every game I used to play,? he recalled.

?Every time we went to the game he (Janeiro) always had his bat and ball with him and a lot of times during the breaks you would always see him playing cricket. Whatever time he had to play, he would play.?

Janeiro at that time was very quiet and he would just laugh or smile and a lot of times when he used to play and got out he would take his ball and bat and go home.?

With cricket running through his veins, it was only a matter of time before Janeiro would make his mark on the domestic scene and take his rightful place in Cup Match lore.

?Janeiro comes from a cricket family. All of my uncles were involved in cricket and even my mother and aunts who used to play women?s cricket down at Umpire?s Field (next to White?s Grocery),? added John, who has taken the third most catches (22) in the summer classic.

Tucker senior broke into Somerset?s Cup Match team in 1972 and took over the captaincy from Joe Bailey ten years later. To this day the elder Tucker shares the second best partnership for the fourth wicket with Colin Blades, worth 135 runs ? a record which previously stood for 24 years before St.George?s pair Charlie Marshall and Clay Smith eclipsed it last year at Wellington Oval.

He added: ?I am very excited for Janeiro and I know he has always had goals in mind to make Cup Match and and also become skipper one day and I think he?s going to be alright. Everyone makes mistakes and there?s no captain that ever played Cup Match who hasn?t made a mistake ? everybody makes mistakes.

?I?m sure he?s matured enough and I think he?s going to do alright. We have already had discussions and one thing about me is that I am always in the dressing before the game starts, at water or tea breaks and even lunch break.?

Janeiro recalled the ?good old days?, nurturing his talents on the porch of his family?s Southampton residence.

?I remember I was about five years-old and my father had returned home from the ICC Trophy competition (1982) and we would play cricket on the porch,? said Tucker, who recently shed his trademark crop of dreadlocks.

?That?s basically where I learned my cricket from, playing on the porch with my father. Him showing me how to hold the bat and how to play forward defensively and on the back foot. I learned my cricket playing with him on the porch and sometimes even inside the house.?

In only 13 appearances at the crease, Tucker has compiled 709 runs and if he can maintain the classic?s current best average of 59.08 runs per innings, then it?s a safe bet he will eventually eclipse Wendell Smith?s all-time record of 1,143 runs amassed in 35 innings.

Former St.George?s skipper Charlie Marshall is presently perched on 1,044, 99 runs shy of Smith?s record while former Somerset skipper Albert Steede is 31 runs away from reaching the milestone and becoming only the third batsmen ever to score 1,000 runs in the annual classic.

Tucker added: ?After watching my old man play Cup Match I always wanted to follow in his footsteps. That was a goal that I always felt was within my grasp ? but I didn?t think it was going to happen this year. It feels great but I guess it will be a different ball game on the actual day. I might be a little nervous but I think I am up for the challenge.?

Although Tucker insists he?s ready for the challenge, that of defending the cup in his first term as skipper, those who have become accustomed to his free-flowing strokeplay on the big occasion might be in for a surprise as with the captaincy of any team comes added responsibility ? and pressure.

He explained: ?I think now I have to lead from the front and so I just can?t come out there and do what I normally do. But I?m not going to change my approach and if the ball is there to hit I am going to hit it. But I intend to lead from the front and lead by example. There will be ten other players all looking up to me to guide them so that?s why I must lead from the front.?

In former skipper Steede, Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock, Hasan Durham and father John, Tucker has ample experience on which to draw should the need arise.

?Those guys always offer advice and I can?t do it all by myself. As long as the senior players are there it will probably be easier for me and they can help me out a lot. And my goal is to win.?

Tucker also has the full support of grandmother, Eileen, who presently has two grandsons playing in the classic, Janeiro and Somerset wicketkeeper Kwame Tucker.

?I am very proud of Janeiro and Kwame, they got their talent from their uncles and I hope to be at the match. I was surprised when Janeiro broke the record in St.George?s a few years ago . . . in fact I was away at the time. But I hope to be there this time around,? said Eileen.

Meanwhile, Tucker?s opposite number, Gregg Foggo, finds himself in the exact same position, that of following in the footsteps of father Gregg (Brutus) Foggo, forever remembered as the St.George?s skipper who lost the cup to Somerset after two decades in 1979 at Somerset.

?I left the cup up there (Somerset) and he?s (Gregg Jr.) going up there to get it back!? exclaimed a confident Gregg Sr who represented St.George?s in Cup Match from 1976 to ?79.

?I am very proud of him. The only thing I have said to him is to listen to the other players? advice but follow your own instincts. It?s always good to listen to others but whenever in doubt then it?s best to go with your own instincts. And that?s one thing that I have always emphasised to him in the past.?

Foggo, like several other former St.George?s skippers before him, also captained the East Enders in the annual Colts Cup Match, while only a year ago both Tucker and his opposite number played football together with current Premier Division League and FA Cup champions, Dandy Town.

In yet another twist, not only were both players elevated to skippers in the same year but their fathers who preceded them as Cup Match captains both suffered the disappointment of losing the coveted cup.

?Both Janeiro and John are good friends of mine. I lost the cup in 1979 and John lost the cup as well in 1983,? said Foggo snr.

?But Gregg has played cricket for as long as I can remember and I think he has handled the team pretty well this year. They (St.George?s) have only lost one league match in the whole season.?

Having been presented with the opportunity of a life time, the junior Foggo hopes to exorcise his father?s ghosts and set the record straight.

?My dad was captain for St.George?s 25 years ago and he lost the cup,? said the new skipper?And I?ve been catching flak ever since but I?ve got broad shoulders and can handle the pressure and that?s what this game is all about ? win or lose it makes you strong mentally. But I want to see our team win.?