Defending two-day champions Manchester will start favourites against neighbours St Elizabeth in the championship match of the 2011 Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) Senior Cup competition, beginning today at the Alpart Sports Club.

Play on both days is scheduled to begin at 10:00 am.

Manchester reached the final at the expense of Melbourne when the JCA ruled in their favour after an abandoned semi-final last month, which was scheduled to be played at Derrymore Road. Umpires on the morning of the scheduled first day had ruled the Melbourne Oval pitch to be unfit for play.

In the other semi-final, St Elizabeth took first innings honours from a battling St Ann team, thanks mainly to the heroics of former West Indies fastbowler Daren Powell.

The Manchester team won the semi-professional two-day Super Cricket League in 2009 and 2010, and coach Barry Barnes is confident of taking three titles in a row.

“We are confident and we are aiming to win for the third consecutive year. We have a bunch of youngsters who have been playing together for a long time now. The chemistry and discipline of the team is the reason we have been doing so well over the years,” he said.

“We have not been preparing well because of the rain and other reasons. There have been problems with funding so preparation has been limited this season but we are not using that as an excuse. I hope we can entertain the entire Jamaica with some good cricket.”

Manchester’s batting hopes lie with captain Gary Graham and promising stroke-makers Ziggy Levy, Damion Bryce and Zeniff Fowler. Oshane Walters has national Under-19 duties and will be absent.

Pacer Stephan Patterson, off-spinning all-rounder Jamie Merchant, left-arm orthodox bowler David Powell and wrist-spinner Donovan Sinclair are expected to lead the bowling.

Despite enjoying almost total dominance over their rivals since he has been coach of Manchester, Barnes is expecting tough opposition from St Elizabeth.

“I’m expecting a very hard game, especially based on information received that St Elizabeth are well-prepared. I hope complacency does not creep in, because I’ve been in charge of this team for 17 years and I can only recall losing one game to them and that was in a rain-affected limited-overs game that was shortened,” noted Barnes.

Powell, who had made the switch from Kensington to his native St Elizabeth before the start of this season, says the spirit within the camp is very good and added that his team will need to execute the basics in order to dethrone Manchester.

“We are on a high coming in from the last couple of games, though we got a reality check in that close semi-final against St Ann. The way we are playing at the moment we are pretty confident, but we have to stick to the basics,” he said.

“It is time for us to show people the much-talked about talent that we have in the parish. Manchester have done well against us over the years, so it won’t be easy. They are defending champions, they have been playing good cricket and it’s their third final in a row so there is a lot of positives for them and their confidence should be high,” Powell said.

Powered by Powell, side-lined national and West Indies opener Brenton Parchment and leg-spinning all-rounder Cassius Burton, St Elizabeth have proved to be a formidable unit, with a mixture of veteran stalwarts and promising youngsters.

Powell said that ace leg-spinner Donovan Nelson will miss out due to Under-19 duties and added that the squad’s preparation has been hampered due to several of the younger players seeking admission into tertiary institutions for the upcoming school year.