Sabina Park should be abuzz with excitement today and tomorrow with the playing of the semi-finals and final of the first ever national Red Stripe Twenty20 Championship.
The event, which will climax four weeks of intense knockout cricket action among the nation's top clubs, will see defending one-day champions Melbourne Kangaroos taking on reigning two-day Super League champions Manchester Lions at 10 a.m. in the first match of the day's semi-finals double-header.
The other match between dethroned two-day Super League champions St Catherine Saints and surprise qualifiers Hanover Dolphins will bowl off at 2 p.m.
"We are not going to be overconfident or complacent, but we are going to play good, competitive cricket with the hope of coming out on top," said a confident Donald McNaughton, manager of Melbourne.
"We have been able in the past to have the upper hand against Manchester, but that said, cricket is cricket and we have to go out there on the day and beat them," he added.
Manchester, who controversially claimed the Super League title earlier this year, will be without the embattled Maurice Kepple, who returned to his original club, Kensington Dragons, at the start of the championship.
They will look to in-form left-arm seamer Krishmar Santokie, exciting opener Zeniffe Fowler and national youth representative Courtnay Allen to guide them home and in tomorrow's championship game, which is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
The Half-Way Tree-based Melbourne, who stopped high-riding St Elizabeth in the semi-finals at Alpart Sports Club, will pin their hopes on in-form players Donovan Pagon, Yannick Elliot, John Ross Campbell and big-hitting captain Carlton Baugh Jr.
The day's second game will be a David versus Goliath affair, as while St Catherine are seasoned and experienced at this stage of national competitions, it is the first time that Hanover are making the trip.
complete team job
"Twenty20 is the version of cricket where one or two mistakes can cost you a game. I expect Hanover to come and play good cricket but we will be ready," said St Catherine manager, Ransford Evans.
"Whichever personnel that steps on the field will be going to do a complete team job, led by Danza Hyatt, who has been captaining the team since the start of the Twenty20," he added.
Evans was alluding to the fact that regular captain Tamar Lambert and off-spinner Bevon Brown will be absent due to a Jamaica Cricket Association ban.
Former national youth players Ziggy Levy and Jermaine Blackwood, along with Omar Campbell and Damion Dustin, will lead the way for Hanover, while for St Catherine, much will be expected of Hyatt, pacer Andre Russell and leg-spinner Odean Brown.