SEVERAL national and former national representatives will be among the line-up of various teams at the fifth annual UTech Knights T20 Cricket Classic which bowls off today and ends on Sunday at the front field of the university’s Papine Campus.

National player Andrew Richardson will represent the UTech Knights, with Jamie Trenchfield, Horace Miller and Donovan Nelson also among the other teams.

Six teams will compete in two zones, with the hosts in Zone A alongside GC Foster College and Kingston Hurricanes. Zone B will feature the beaten finalists from the Jamaica Cricket Association’s T20 competition, Half-Way-Tree Sparks, as well as Mico and UWI, Mona.

The winner of each zone will play the runner-up of the other zone in the semi-finals, with the winners to meet in Sunday’s final, which will be preceeded by the third-place play-off.

National Under-19 coach Robert Samuels will guide the UWI team, while former national fitness trainer Gibbs Williams conditions the GC Foster team.

UTech’s coach, Terrence Corke, told the Jamaica Observer he is expecting strong competition over the next few days, especially with the strong line-up.

“Tough and exciting cricket, very competitive because there is no favourite team this time. Anybody can win,” he said.

“(Robert) Samuels is a smart coach,” he said. “He’s very wily; he has all the tricks up his sleeve, so his competence as a coach could turn things around for UWI,” he added.

Today’s matches will see Half-Way-Tree Sparks up against UWI and GC Foster against Kingston Hurricanes. Matches start at 9:30 am and 1:30 pm each day.