?We are not coming to Somerset just to sit on our bats. We are coming to attack.?

That was the stern message from St.George?s? Cup Match skipper Lionel Cann on the eve of the 105th edition of the annual mid-summer cricket spectacle.

In his first year as skipper, Cann boldly declared the champions would be looking for an outright result in the West End, and he?s confident his team have the necessary weapons to get the job done.

Never one to mince his words, Cann told : ?We have enough good cricketers who can entertain the crowd and not sit around on their bats and defend. We want to play some good aggressive cricket.

?We will check the wicket in the morning and if it?s a good wicket we will go to bat and attack and try to get on top of the bowling and declare at a reasonable time and attack Somerset.

?So basically we are trying to win. When I was chosen as captain I informed the selection committee what my plans would be, and that was to attack. They are aware of our game plan and support me 100 hundred percent.?

In order to achieve a winning result, St.George?s will have to dismiss their West End rivals twice in 48 hours with an attack containing only one genuine pacer in George O?Brien jr who will likely be asked to share the new ball with colt Arthur Pitcher jr.

Troy Hall, colt Oronde Bascome, OJ Pitcher, Charlie Marshall, and Cann could also be called upon to toss down a few overs with the old ball, leaving another colt, Rodney Trott and Delyone Borden to tend to the spin duties.

In terms of batting, the East Enders are heavily stacked from number one to 11, with Bascome likely to open the innings with fellow youngster Borden.

?I don?t have any concerns at all in terms of my batsmen,? Cann insisted.

In the returning Dean Minors St.George?s have arguably the best wicketkeeper in the ICC Americas region. Minors makes his comeback having sat out the last five years, while Clay Smith, the only local batsman to score three centuries in Cup Match, needs only 57 more runs to join elder brother Wendell and Marshall as batsmen having surpassed the 1,000-run mark.

Wendell Smith was the first to achieve the feat at Wellington Oval in 1992 while Marshall became the second batsman to do so in 2003, also in the East End.

Marshall, set to make his 25th appearance in the classic, needs only four more catches to equal Amon Hunt?s record (25) for the most catches in Cup Match.

Cann, meanwhile, has faith in colts Bascome, Pitcher and Trott.

?They may feel a bit nervous at first,? he said. ?But they are very strong colts who already have a bit of international experience under their belts.

?Once they get off the mark or get a wicket I?m sure they?ll feel as though they are playing in a regular league match. And as captain I will do all that I can to make them feel comfortable.?

On the last occasion St.George?s travelled to Somerset in 2004, it took a herculean effort on the part of Bermuda skipper Smith to stave off almost certain defeat after the East Enders found themselves in deep trouble at 67 for four on the second day.

Along with Marshall, Smith added 98 runs for the fifth wicket, 71 runs for the sixth wicket with Borden and another 57 runs for the seventh wicket with Cann during a marathon innings spanning several hours.

Confident St.George?s? selection committee chairman Ritchie Foggo, added: ?We back Lionel all the way and we are looking forward to celebrating at 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon.?

Meanwhile, with absolutely nothing to lose other than pride, Somerset also plan to come out all guns ablaze when the first ball is bowled at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Somerset have gone with four colts this year, and picked a team selection committee chairman Mark Trott has described as well balanced.

?I am are very cautiously optimistic this team can win the match,? Trott stated. ?Nobody can predict the outcome of any game and last year was a perfect example. We were in the driver?s seat for three quarters of the match but at the end of the day St.George?s came out winners.?

Somerset suffered one setback after another in the lead-up to this year?s match, losing fast bowler Kevin Hurdle and wicketkeeper Kwame Tucker to hamstring injuries while batsman Irving Romaine declined an offer to try and reclaim his spot after a five-year hiatus.

These omissions ultimately opened the door for Western Stars wicketkeeper Jekon Edness and Southampton Rangers? all-rounder Malachi Jones to walk into the challengers? team as colts.

Devonshire Recreation Club skipper Dean Stephens and Southampton Rangers opening bat Dion Stovell are the other two colts Somerset have included in their team this year.

With the loss of strike bowler Hurdle, Saleem Mukuddem is almost certain to share new ball duties with either Jacobi Robinson, Stephens or Jones, while veteran campaigners Dwayne Leverock and Hassan Durham will again shoulder the spin duties.

Batting-wise, Somerset also have batsmen right down the order to number 11, but will look for skipper Janeiro Tucker, Stephen Outerbridge, Mukuddem, Azeem Pitcher, Stovell, Stephens, Jones and even wicketkeeper Edness to come through with the bat.

?We chose these batsmen because they are all capable with the bat, and we also have a good variety of bowlers in the team,? noted Somerset skipper Janeiro Tucker.

Outerbridge and colt Stovell are most likely to open the challengers? batting, he revealed.

The onus will be on Somerset to put St.George?s on the back foot from the start, and keep applying the pressure ? something skipper Tucker is confident his team can achieve.

?This is the only way we can get the trophy back, put the pressure on St.George?s from the outset and hope they crack under the pressure.?

As for Cann?s plans to force a result, Tucker accused his Rangers? team-mate of ?bluffing?.

?I know very well St.George?s aren?t going to declare . . . that?s not even in their vocabulary,? he said. ?They will be looking to bat all day.?

For the first time in the history of the classic both opposing captains play for the same league team, Southampton Rangers, who in total have six members involved including assistant St.George?s coach Clevie Wade.

Tucker added: ?I think our team has an advantage because we have a lot of young, enthusiastic players and there are no egos up here.

?Right now we have Sluggo (Leverock), Hassan (Durham) and myself as the senior players in the team. Everyone else are colts or have played in one or two matches before.

?They are inexperienced and so they will look to us senior guys to carry them through and show them the way. And so I think this will work to our advantage.?

Tucker also hopes to make amends for last summer?s narrow 27-run defeat.

?You always want to win Cup Match, whether you have the cup or not,? he added. ?We just go out there to win, and do so the right way. We are not going to prepare a bad wicket or stuff like that, we are going to win the match outright, and that?s it. Bottom line.?