Clay Smith will captain St.George?s Cricket Club in Saturday?s Cal Wade Memorial Trophy match against Bailey?s Bay at Wellington Oval, fuelling growing speculation the Bermuda skipper will succeed Herbie Bascome for the post he relinquished amid controversy in 1998.

Bascome resigned as skipper of the Cup Match champions at the end of last season after being re-instated to the post for the second time in a seven -year period, leaving St.George?s? selectors with what could possibly turn out to be a ?difficult? task of finding a suitable replacement.

But it is understood Smith is among a few candidates currently being considered for the vacant position, with the others believed to be Lionel Cann, Bascome and former skipper Charlie Marshall.

Smith, the only batsmen to score three centuries in the Classic, has so far made limited appearances for new club Cleveland County this season following knee surgery in the US earlier this year.

The veteran batsman requires another 57 runs to become the third batsmen in the history of Cup Match to surpass 1,000 runs in the Classic behind Marshall and elder brother Wendell Smith, the first to achieve the milestone in 1992.

The Bermuda skipper shares batting partnership records for the second wicket (200) with elder brother Wendell and also for the fourth wicket (212) with Marshall.

Smith?s sole victory as skipper of St.George?s arrived in 1997 at Wellington Oval ? a year after losing the coveted showpiece to Dexter Basden?s Somerset in the West End.

?We just thought he (Smith) was the best option for the team that we picked,? stated St.George?s Cricket Club selector Ritchie Foggo, a member of Clarence Parfitt?s St.George?s team that lost to Somerset by nine wickets in 1981 at Wellington Oval.

?We felt that Clay was the best option for this particular day. We have a couple of people who are currently off Island and a few others who are playing for Bay and so this was the main reason why Clay was offered the job on Saturday.?

Without a doubt Foggo and his fellow colleagues on the selection committee will be very keen on Saturday to see how well Smith has progressed since undergoing surgery last February.

?This is one thing that we will be looking at very carefully,? he said. ?But we will have an eagle eye on everyone, and not just Clay.?

When contacted yesterday, Smith declined to comment on the matter.

The Cal Wade Memorial Trophy, honouring the memory of former St.George?s? all rounder and father of former St.George?s? Cup Match skipper Clevie Wade, is contested for annually between St.George?s and Bay.

Wade captained St.George?s to victory over John Tucker?s Somerset at Somerset Cricket Club in 1983 ? four years after Gregory (Brutus) Foggo?s St.George?s squad lost the cup to Randy Horton?s Somerset in the West End.

Meanwhile, with the champions predicted to make several changes from last year?s squad, Foggo is bracing himself for what could be a time consuming process.

?I think we are going to have a very difficult time picking the squad this year . . . it could turn out to be a very long night,? he said, adding the champions may wait until the final Cup Match trial match on July 29 before announcing a successor to Bascome.

St.George?s have also yet to announce a successor to Lewis Foggo who resigned as the club?s sports chairman and chairman of Cup Match selectors late last year.

Challengers Somerset will host this year?s classic at their Cricket Lane venue on August 3 and 4.

Clay Smith (capt), OJ Pitcher (v.capt), Ricardo Brangman, Keith Wainwright, Phillip Burgess, Kevin Shiell, Jason Simons, Arthur Pitcher, Jaymo Durham, Gershon Gibbons, Vernon Eve, Akeem Trott, Jonte Smith.