THE Sandals/Costley Construction-sponsored St Mary T20 Blast is to bowl off on Sunday with a heavy emphasis on youth and development.

The competition, which has a new two-division format, will see action in Division 2. The feature match at 2:00 pm at Boscobel Oval will pit highly fancied Highgate against guest team Buff Bay United from Portland. In the opening encounter a youthful United All-Stars tackle Mango Valley in a mouth-watering clash.

The Highgate team is bubbling with confidence as they boast the likes of St Mary parish representatives Darrien Walker and Gihon Murdock, as well as national Under-17 representative Jevone Wynter. Shanor Douse, who played on Boscobel’s Social Development Commission T20 winning team, and highly touted Tacky High representative Romario Murphy also play for Highgate.

The Buff Bay squad, however, is not expected be a walkover as they have a talented team led by Leronne Tyrell, Howayne Hyatt and Dwight Hyatt.

The opening encounter will be worth travelling miles to see as United All-Stars will field a host of the parish’s young cricketing talent — including Devonte Miller, Shavar Hall, Tedain Noyan, Dijon Taylor — backed by experienced Captain Howayne Hoilett. Mango Valley will also showcase their youth brigade, headlined by Jordan Pinnock who some believe is the best young batsman in the parish, as well as champion all-rounder Ain Ennis.

Teams competing in Division 2 will play each other on a round robin basis, with the top two moving on to a play-off round against the third- and fourth-place teams from Division 1. The winners of the play-offs will advance to the semi-finals against the top two seeds from Division 1.

“Cricket lovers in the parish of St Mary are really looking forward to the start of the competition,” said an upbeat Ian Spencer, president of the St Mary Cricket Association.

“Division 2 has been drawing a lot of attention due to the emphasis on young players, and we expect strong support from our cricketing fraternity,” he said.

Spencer is also awaiting the appearance of the top four teams in the parish which will bow into Division 1 action at the culmination of the ongoing Jamaica Cricket Association T20 Bashment.