St. David's begin their Twenty/20 title defence tomorrow when they tackle PHC at Sea Breeze Oval as they look to add another piece of silverware to their well-stocked trophy cabinet.

The East Enders won the inaugural tournament last year when they cruised past Somerset Cricket Club by eight wickets at the National Sports Centre (NSC).

Deyone Borden's men have had one of their most successful campaigns in recent years, winning both the Premier Division 50-over and Eastern Counties titles and will be looking to carry on their impressive form.

Skipper Borden is confident his team can make the adjustment from the longer version of the game, and have the ability to repeat last year's unbeaten run.

"The guys are ready for the Twenty/20 to kick off, we are the champions," said Borden.

"We are looking to defend what we have.

"We have a good mixture of aggressive batsmen to do the job along with the likes of myself and a few other guys that can come in and steady the ship when things are not going our way with the bat.

"We will have to change the format from 50-overs to the shorter version in training and try to look to bat a little more aggressively.

"The game is won in the field in my eyes, so we will have to stay sharp and be ready what happens on the day.

"There won't be any real pressure to win this competition, we have the title and with the shorter format anything can happen on the day, so we will go out and play our hearts out and hope for the best."

The format has changed this year with there now being two groups of eight and the top two from each advancing to the semi-finals.

Group A consists of PHC, Police, Somerset Bridge, Young Men's Social Club, Warwick, St. David's and Western Stars, while Group B features Leg Trappers, Devonshire Rec., Bailey's Bay, Willow Cuts, Southampton Rangers, St. George's, Somerset and Flatts.

The first round of games were called off because of Hurricane Bill and saw each team allocated one point. St.David's will also face Somerset Bridge on Sunday at Lords.

Last year's Twenty/20 runners-up Somerset begin their road to redemption with a trip to Southampton Oval to take on Willow Cuts tomorrow, followed by a showdown with rivals Southampton Rangers on Sunday.

Surviving the drop to First Division on the last day of the regular season could bode well for the side, and although they won't have the services of skipper Jacobi Robinson who is still nursing a back injury, the possibility of revenge for their league loss against Rangers could make it an interesting contest.

First Division champions Devonshire Rec. will also be in Group B with Somerset and Rangers and should be in the hunt for honours in the tournament having already won the First Division, Open League and Central Counties titles.

They will lock horns with First Division foes St. George's at Lord's before taking on Bailey's Bay at Devonshire Rec.

Devonshire Rec. skipper Derrick Brangman believes his team possesses the explosive batting power to prosper in Twenty/20 cricket.

"We will have to pick up the pace, but for the most part we have done the job so far and will move forward," said Brangman. "We have a lot of bats going into any game, so it will be up to the players to select themselves.

"Minus who we lost we still have a good nucleus of guys here and what is in front of us now is Twenty/20.

"To us it has been a good campaign from the start with the league and we want to push on from there."

n Southampton Rangers president Randy Raynor has congratulated Premier Division 50-over champions St. David's on their success this term and hopes to see his club face St.David's in the tournament.

"On behalf of my players and club, I would like to congratulate St. David's on a job well done," said Raynor.

"We beat them this year and they beat us, so I guess we both owe each other something and to the cricket fans to see who is the best club for 2009.

"Being both County champions, it would set up a mouth-watering affair."

Saturday September 5

11 a.m. PHC V St.David's at Sea Breeze Oval

3 p.m Police v Cleveland at Sea Breeze Oval

11 a.m. Warwick v YMSC at St.John's Field

3 p.m. Somerset Bridge v Western Stars at St.John's Field

11 a.m. Flatts v Leg Trappers at St.David's

3 p.m. Devonshire Rec. v St.George's at St.David's

11 a.m. Southampton Rangers v Bailey's Bay at Southampton Oval

3 p.m. Willow Cuts v Somerset at Southampton Oval

Sunday September 6

11 a.m YMSC v Police at Police Field

3 p.m Cleveland v PHC at Police Field

11 a.m. Western Stars v Warwick at St.David's

3 p.m. Somerset Bridge v St.David's at St David's

11 a.m. Bailey's Bay v Devonshire Rec. at Devonshire Rec.

3 p.m. St.George's v Leg Trappers at Devonshire Rec.

11 a.m Somerset v Southampton Rangers at Somerset

3 p.m. Willow Cuts v Flatts at Somerset