Basden: Anyone can win the BELCO Cup

The former Cuts and Somerset Cup Match skipper feels very little separates this year’s foursome as they attempt to lift the season’s first piece of silverware at Lords on Sunday.

He said: “I think the Belco Cup is going to be up in the air because it’s not as though any of the teams are in any type of form.”

Cup holders PHC take on Bailey’s Bay at Somerset Cricket Club while Cuts tackle multiple BELCO Cup winners Southampton Rangers at Lords in tomorrow’s two semi-finals.

All matches begin at 11am

Basden, who also coaches Cuts’ Under-14 youth team, is optimistic his team can get past Rangers — but only if his players show up at the ground ready to play.

He said: “Everybody knows that on any given day Willow Cuts can beat anybody if we come to play cricket.

“We can beat anybody from St David’s to Rangers but it all depends on our mindset once we get there — do we want to play cricket or not.”

Cuts will enter the west end derby with Premier league champs Rangers as the underdog. But this doesn’t seem to bother Basden in the least.

“Being the underdog suits us well because on any given day we know we have the ability to come out on top.”

Like their opposite number Cuts also possess potential match winners in all-rounder Malachi Jones, pace ace George O’Brien Jr and star batsmen Chris Douglas and Deunte Darrell — last season’s Cup Match MVP.

Jones injured himself during Bermuda’s disastrous World Cricket League Division Two campaign in Dubai earlier this year but has done enough to convince the Cuts selectors that he is fit enough to participate in this weekend’s BELCO Cup — a showpiece he won multiple times with Rangers.

Basden expects tomorrow’s semi-final clash with Rangers to be just like any other derby between the two Western Counties sides.

“It’s just another derby to see who is one of the better teams in the west. And being the first game of the season it could go either way.”

Two players Cuts will be looking to keep under wraps are Rangers pair Janeiro Tucker and Dion Stovell, who virtually carried Bermuda’s batting in Dubai earlier this year.

“Those two have always been a nuisance to us,” Basden said. “But one thing about them is that although they are good players they will give a chance, and if we can hold onto our chances that could make a big difference.”

Basden also reckons he has an ace up his sleeve in all -rounder Jermaine Trott who always seems to thrive with the bat against Rangers.

“Jermaine has always had a good strike against Rangers. Every time we play them in the counties or league he always gets a good knock in.”