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It's been delayed by almost a month. But it has made no difference to the approach and enthusiasm of the two teams in the annual Cable & Wireless Under-15 cricket final starting today.

And one thing's for certain the name which is etched onto the trophy will be one that has never been engraved there before.

The Lodge School in St John and Queen's College in St James are contesting the final for the first time in the history of the tournament which was first sponsored by the telecommunications company 15 years ago.

The match, originally set for August 7-9 was initially put back by a week. But it was further delayed to allow both teams to be at full strength. Had it been played from August 14-16 both schools would have been affected by the absence of players on tour in England with the National Sports Council's (NSC) Under-13 team.

Those players have returned to the island and the stage is set for what is anticipated to be a competitive three-day final.

We expect to win, even though we would have been better off playing straight after the semifinal, said Rory Sidaway, the man in charge of Queen's College. We had just thrashed St Leonard's and we were feeling good. We've been practising hard. We have maintained the momentum as best we can and we are ready to beat Lodge.

Sidaway's counterpart Clifton Phillips was just as upbeat. Our chances are pretty good. We've worked hard throughout the season and the guys have really responded well. This is what it all comes down to, so once we execute, we can come out on top.

The Lodge appear to be the team which might have been most affected had the match gone ahead when the NSC squad was on tour.

Queen's College are welcoming back their leading wicket-taker Christopher Jordan, while Lodge had three boys in England Shamarh Brooks, Chad Linton and Dawayne Sealy.

I don't see it (the delay) as being either positive or negative, Phillips said.

We are taking it in stride. Fortunately a number of our players are involved in the second division and we've had some good practices in between.

Queen's College have not been known to be powerhouses in schools' cricket but they have reached this far on the strength of hard work, regular practice and playing to their potential.

They have been playing to their ability, Sidaway said. We bat well down the order. We have a good bowling attack and we're very confident.

Among their leading players in the prelimina-ries were captain Kerwin Elias (243 runs), Nicholai Parris (199) and Nicholas Stanford (187). Apart from Jordan, the bowling revolved around off-spinning all- rounder Niaz Dokrat (21 wickets) and medium-pacer Mario Gill (18).

The Lodge's top run-scorer was captain, wicket-keeper, opening batsman and Barbados Under-15 selectee Nicholas Squires. He made 327 runs including a highest score of 130 to go with 17 dismissals behind the stumps.

Brooks, one of the island's gifted young talents, made 118 runs and took 35 wickets with his leg-breaks, while all-rounder Andre Gill weighed in with 142 runs and 15 wickets.

It has been a team effort really. We don't have one really outstanding player at this stage, Phillips said.

Quite a few people have gotten wickets at different stages and almost all the batsmen have had score of significance.

© The Barbados Nation