THE wicket at Wellington Oval, long a main topic of discussion since it was damaged last December, came back into the spotlight two days ago when a vandal or vandals hacked holes in it.

But the acts will not prevent the 101st annual match from going ahead as the groundsmen quickly repaired the damage. Holes had been dug in the middle of the wicket and oil poured in the holes sometime late on Sunday night. It was discovered on Monday morning by a club official.

It is the first time in Cup Match history that the wicket has been damaged by vandals and it is difficult to imagine somebody being so callous as to try to disrupt Bermuda's premier sporting event.

The wicket is still expected to play a significant role in the match and after watching it offer some movement for the seam bowlers, the St. George's selectors opted for a four-prong attack of Herbie Bascome, Gregg Foggo, Clarkie Trott and colt Mackie Crane.

Trott played his way back into the team with figures of four for 33 from 13.1 overs in the final trial match on Saturday while Crane - the quickest of the four bowlers - generated extra pace off the wicket.

In the end the challengers opted to drop one of last year's spinners, colt Peter Philpott, despite his 45 and two for 20 from seven overs, while another spinner, Eugene Foggo, was also overlooked. He led the President's XI with 39 at the top of the order and then claimed one for 11 off five overs.

However, captain Charlie Marshall still has three spin options to support Travis Smith, last year's MVP, as the wrist spin of both Glenn Blakeney and colt Delyone Borden could be used as well as Clay Smith's off-breaks.

When St. George's won the cup back in 1997 at Wellington Oval, the attack pair of Bascome and Gary Brangman did the bowling damage on a lively wicket, taking 14 of the 20 Somerset wickets between them. The east enders are hoping Bascome and the other seamers can enjoy similiar success and thus help end five years without the trophy.

Certainly there is plenty of variety in the bowling as Lionel Cann's medium pacers will provide support for the other four seamers.

The Somerset team, understandably, has strength in batting once again even though they did drop reliable opener Curtis Jackson.

Again the champions have made just two changes, Jackson and the retiring former captain Dexter Basden, while coming in are Western Stars pair Jermaine Postlethwaite and Saleem Mukuddem. Five players are from captain Albert Steede's league club, Western Stars. If the wicket offers some assistance to the spinners they will rely heavily on Hasan Durham and Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock.

Durham is the leading wicket-taker amongst the current players with 27 wickets at 21.52 apiece, just behind Herbie Bascome in the averages. Bascome has taken 23 wickets at 20.22 each.

Postlethwaite, who secured his spot with 50 in the rain-hit trial match, will open the batting, possibly with Sheridan Ming. After that the east enders will have to contend with the likes of Albert Steede and Janeiro Tucker.

Tucker leads the Cup Match batting averages, averaging 58.20 from 11 innings, while Steede is third on the aggregate list with 922 runs and seventh in the all-time averages with an average of 35.46. With batting right down the order the St. George's bowlers will have their work cut out trying to dismiss the champions twice.

Certainly they cannot afford to bowl the way they did two years ago when Tucker blasted the hapless attack for a new Cup Match record 186. The Southampton Rangers captain sent out a timely warning to the Cup Match hosts with seven fours and five sixes in a run-a-ball 80 not out against a St. David's team containing six Cup Match players.

The toss will be a vital one to win as both teams are likely to want to field first on a strip that hasn't been used yet. Though Chris Foggo did start as an opening batsman, the job of partnering Glenn Blakeney is expected to go to former captain Clay Smith who partnered Blakeney last year.

A glance through the team doesn't show the same batting depth as Somerset, but greater emphasis has been put on the bowling, knowing that being able to score 300 runs in each innings won't guarantee success. Bowling out Somerset twice is the only way the challengers can dethrone the holders.

The match could also see a second - or third - player join Wendell Smith on 1,000 runs in Cup Match. At the same ground where he made his debut 19 years earlier, Smith went past 1,000 runs in the 1995 match at Wellington Oval.

Rival captains Steede and Marshall both went past 900 runs last year in Somerset, with Steede having scored his 922 runs in 26 innings while Marshall has been to the crease 32 times for his 910 runs, since making his debut in 1980. Smith reached the milestone in his 33rd innings.