JAMAICA Scorpions skipper Nikita Miller is stressing the need for a positive start to the 2018-19 Regional Super50 cricket tournament as his team prepares to take on perennial nemeses Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) Marooners today.

The Group B encounter is scheduled for an 8:00 am (Jamaica time) start at the CCC’s base at Three Ws Oval in Barbados.

The Scorpions squad was recently boosted by the inclusion of superstar all-rounder Andre Russell, who it is understood is available for their opening two games after initially opting out due to a knee problem.

The 36-year-old Miller noted that they lost to the Marooners in their opening game of the 2016-17 campaign, but recovered to progress from the group stage before losing to Barbados Pride in the final.

“It’s very, very important for us to start the tournament well. Two seasons ago in that first game [against CCC Marooners] we got set back,” Miller, the left-arm finger spinner, told the Jamaica Observer during an interview on Tuesday.

“That was a poor game for us, though we lifted ourselves after that game, and did well in the tournament. We don’t want to repeat that.”

The other teams in Group B are the Pride, Leeward Islands Hurricanes and United States.

Zone A, to be contested in Trinidad and Tobago, comprises title-holders Windward Islands Volcanoes, Guyana Jaguars, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force, West Indies ‘B’ and Canada.

The championship match, to be played at Kensington Oval in Barbados, is slated for October 28.

While the Scorpions were finalists two seasons ago, they flopped in the last campaign, failing to advance to the semi-finals.

Miller, the team’s ace spin bowler, is looking to go all the way this time around.

“The goal this season is to go a step further. We made it to the final that year, and I think we played some good cricket after the first game. Coincidentally, it’s the same CCC we are playing against again at their ground,” he said.

“Hopefully we can gel together as a team and be ready. We’ll be on the road for a while, so we need to stick together and play for each other. I’m sure if we do that we should be fine,” the Scorpions captain added, in reference to the Scorpions’ team chemistry.

He said the inclusion of a number of young, promising players alongside a few veterans should contribute to enterprising cricket.

“We want to start on the front foot and stay on the front foot, and play an exciting brand of cricket because the players we have are some exciting cricketers. I encourage them to be themselves and to just go out and express themselves. I’m sure that will work for us well, and hopefully, take us over the line,” Miller told the Observer.

Scorpions squad — Nikita Miller (captain), Christopher Gayle, Chadwick Walton, Jermaine Blackwood, Brandon King, Rovman Powell, Andre Russell, Fabian Allen, Andre McCarthy, Nkrumah Bonner, Paul Palmer, Christopher Lamont, Jerome Taylor, Oshane Thomas, Gordon Bryan.