The second round of the two day cricket league gets underway today, with the clash between St.David?s and Western Stars at Lord?s ? a repeat of last week?s Belco Cup final in which Stars were victorious ? indisputably topping the bill.

With one piece of silverware in the trophy cabinet already, as well as a welcome cash boost of $1,000 from Belco, the Stars squad were understandably buoyant at their Thursday evening training session.

Fresh from his match-winning spell of five for ten in last week?s final, Stars captain and left arm spinner Hasan Durham was noticeably upbeat about his side?s chances of success.

He confirmed also that Stars would be continuing with the policy ? adopted by many other clubs since the initiation of two day cricket this summer ? of giving the younger members of the squad a more prominent role in proceedings.

?We?re pretty confident that we can come out of there with a victory,? he said.

?Obviously you have got to bear in mind that we are playing a completely different format which will require us to alter our thinking and our approach. ?We also want to give our youngsters a chance to bat up the order and bowl a bit more in the two day stuff. It is, after all, about development, and I think we have a responsibility to make sure that they are given the opportunity to shine.?

?I?m sure though,? he continued,?that even with a younger side, we can get the job down.?

On a more personal note, the Somerset Cup Match player also revealed that he is greatly enjoying his new role at the helm of Stars, taking over the captaincy from Albert Steede this season after several years as deputy.

And after his bowling display against St.David?s last Sunday, where he ripped the heart out of the Islander?s middle order during a devastating seven over spell, he seems to have made light of the extra responsibility of becoming the teams leading spin bowler in the aftermath of the acrimonious early-season departure of Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock from the club.

?I feel pretty comfortable in the captaincy,? he said.

?I?ve been at Stars for 15 years and I feel at ease around the players and have often filled in as captain over the years when Albert has been away. ?So my role now is not totally new to me and, all in all, I would say that there has been a very smooth transition and the team has not been disrupted in any way.?

St. Davids? Delwoyne Borden meanwhile commented yesterday that although the East End team had been ?very unhappy? with their batting performance in particular last week against Stars, they were not prepared to let one defeat undermine their self belief.

?One of our goals at the start of the season was to win the Belco Cup and we have obviously had to pick ourselves up after the defeat,? he said.

?Too many of us gave our wickets away chasing a very gettable target. But we talked about it afterwards and are determined to learn from our mistakes. Some days just turn out bad no matter how hard you try ? but we have trained well all week and we are now in a very upbeat frame of mind and looking to exact revenge.?

Despite a number of pre-season concerns, players from both sides were also said to have reacted very positively to the new two-day competition.

Durham himself argued that the opportunity to play the longer form of the game on a regular basis has been ?priceless?.

?The players really enjoyed the first round,? he said.

?There are obviously teething problems in terms of umpires and things. But with a restriction on the number of overs the side batting first can bat, the technical committee has set it up very well and the experience overall is very positive.?

Meanwhile in other Premier Division clashes, St. George?s take on Cleveland at the Wellington Oval while struggling Southampton Rangers will be attempting to breath life into what has been a season fraught with difficulties against Bailey?s Bay at Southampton Oval. Devonshire also play Willow Cuts at Devonshire Recreation Club.

In First Division action, Police play Somerset Bridge at Police Field, Somerset take on Flatt?s at Somerset Cricket Club, Leg Trappers play Social Club at St.John?s Field and PHC will be up against Warwick at White Hill Field.

All games start at 11 a.m.