they clash in the Knockout Cup final at St. David's.

It will be the first meeting between the Eastern Counties rivals since Bay won in the second round of the Counties on August 16 when Cleveland fell 50 runs short of their winning target of 193 despite a brave stand by veteran Allan Douglas.

And even though Cleveland beat Bay last season and again this year, Bay should go into the final as favourites. They have won the cup before while Cleveland suffered defeat in their only previous appearance, losing to St. George's last year.

If Cleveland are to get it right this time they will have to improve on last weekend's performance when they went down to Willow Cuts at Wellington Oval, a result that sealed their relegation to the First Division Overs.

Certainly there is talent in the Cleveland team but doubt over whether they have what it takes to win the big matches still lingers. Lately, Douglas has been in good form, without getting much support from the other Cleveland batsmen.

Bay have a number of potential match-winners, with batsmen like captain Charlie Marshall, Glenn Blakeney and Roger Trott all capable of piling on the runs.

And it will be interesting to see how they fare, not having had a match since the weekend of August 30 when they were dethroned in the Eastern Counties final, something Cleveland believe should have happened two weeks previously when they blew a good chance to win the cup.

Now is their chance to make amends.

The 50 overs match starts at noon.