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If at the start of the season you told the members of the Piton Dover they would make the Fire Shield cricket final they would have replied: Sure!

If you told them their opponents would be MTW, they probably would have replied: MT-Who?

Well, that's the case today at the Police Sports Club, Weymouth, in the grand final of the Barbados Fire & Commercial Shield Cricket final the marquee tournament for lower division sides in the Barbados Cricket Association's (BCA) competitions.

Dover, with their many former Division 1 stalwarts, start as favourites, but don't tell MTW that. At stake is a bounty of $5 000, while the losers will pocket $3 500 not bad for a day's work.

The team that plays better on the day will win. We have been practising very hard both batting and fielding and we have been getting some physiological advice to be better prepared for the game, said MTW skipper and leading batsman Geoffrey Padmore.

This is MTW's first Shield final after 11 years in the BCA competition and allrounder Padmore is the reason why they are there.

He blasted an aggressive 73 against Central in the semifinal after his team was struggling on 70 for six. He promises a well-balanced team in what should be a very competitive game.

Dover warmed up yesterday in style taking the last four Fustic wickets in 15 minutes in their Premier League match to record an innings victory and the afternoon off.

Dover, the 1992 champions, are confident of victory according to their captain Vibert Greene, the former Barbados and West Indies B allrounder.

We are confident of victory, he said. We met last year and we won quite easily, but MTW, with some new faces, will be on a high and it will not be an easy task. I think we have the best team in the lower division, but cricket is still played on the day.

The Dovermen showed their mettle in the semifinal with a four-wicket victory over the Combermere School team. It was the depth of experience which pulled them through.

Man for man, Dover have a big advantage.

The batting is centred around Peter Clarke, Silverton Weekes, Bernard Kinch, Wilbur Bruce and Stephen Blackett. Allrounders Greene, Jerry Kirton and Richard Thornton were all household names of the past.

The bowling department is based on mainly fast-medium. The Kirton brothers, Jerry and Levere, along with Greene and Thornton, will be supported by Litchfield Kirton, who completes a trio of brothers in the team.

MTW have Padmore and other batsmen include veteran Glendon Johnson, Anthony Burrowes, Testa Baker and Philbert Brathwaite. Wicketkeeper Peter Blackman completes a reasonable batting line-up.

Fast bowlers Peter Francis and Charles Ramsay will share the new ball, with support coming from Winston Gittens, Mark Bailey and left-arm spinner Denis Payne can also do the job.

It promises to be a big job, but as we have seen in the past Oh how the mighty have fallen.

© The Barbados Nation