by EZRA STUART

ZONE LEADERS ICBL EMPIRE and Caribbean Lumber YMPC will both face severely weakened Guardian General Barbados Youth teams in the crucial penultimate round
of Banks Division 1 cricket matches starting today at 12:30 p.m.

Empire hold an eight-point lead on second-placed Banks in the Zone 'A' and a victory, which is highly expected against the inexperienced Youth 'A' side in their encounter at Lodge School, will put them in an unsurpassable position.

Barbados Youth "A" will be without Shamarh Brooks, Jonathan Carter, Roger Williams, Carlos Brathwaite, Renaldo Arthur and Kemar Roach as they will leave next week for Guyana to represent Barbados in the TCL West Indies Under-19 tournament.

Ashley Nurse takes over as captain and has some first-timers like Renaldo Layne, Ishmael Rudder, Jamar Harewood and Brian Gooding in the "A" team line-up.

YMPC, who lead BNB St Catherine by five points in Zone "B", will be favoured to defeat the under-strength Barbados Youth "B", who will miss Reydon Toppin, Jed Yearwood, Shamar Cooke, Kyle Hope, Renaldo Holder, Dawayne Sealy and Adrian Maynard when they clash at Beckles Road.

Seth Holder leads the "B" team with new boys Renaldo Brathwaite of St George, Dario Walcott, Keefe Birkett of Queen's College, Alexandra's spin duo of Tramaine Reece and Karran Bhola and wicket-keeper Collis Worrell of Ellerslie, who has played in the Sagicor Super Cup.

Should Empire and YMPC win and Banks, St Catherine or defending champions, ESAF Pickwick draw their respective matches, they will qualify to play-off for the $20 000 first prize.

St Catherine journey to Paragon to play the BDF Youth Programme, while Banks host Maple at the Brewery and Pickwick entertain Sagicor UWI, who are still unable to play at the Three Ws Oval, at their new Highgate (formerly Barclays) home base.

In the other matches BRC BCL host Harris Paints Wanderers at Blenheim; Carib Carlton oppose SuperCentre Spartan at Black Rock and Cable & Wireless meet Police at Wildey.

There could also be personal landmarks for three batsmen, Dayne Maynard (469), Wayne Blackman (430) and Kirk Edwards (408), who are eyeing the 500-mark and off-spinner Ryan Austin (44), who is only six shy of 50 wickets while some teams may leave places open for their Barbados selectees who are playing in the Stanford 20/20 tournament.

Points (after 5 series)

ZONE A

Empire 30, Banks 22, Carlton 21, Maple 21, Wanderers 17, Spartan 15, BCL 8, Barbados Youth "A" 6.

ZONE B

YMPC 28, St Catherine 23, Pickwick 20, UWI 16, Barbados Youth "B" 14,BDF Youth Programme 9, Cable & Wireless 8, Police 5.

Most runs: Dayne Maynard (St Catherine) 469, Wayne Blackman (Spartan) 430, Kirk Edwards (Pickwick) 408, Kyle Hope (Barbados Youth B) 397, Jason Parris (Empire) 383, Randy Thomas 366, Jonathan Carter (Barbados Youth A) 362, Calvin Watson 360, Ryan Layne 338, Roger Williams (Barbados Youth A) 330, Jason Haynes 313, Ryan Hinds 301.

Most wickets: Ryan Austin (Pickwick) 44, Nikolai Charles (Carlton), Winston Reid (Banks) 29, Jonathan Carter (Barbados Youth A) 27, Derick Bishop (St Catherine) 26, Sulieman Benn (Spartan) 23, Steve Pinder (Wanderers) 22, Chris Humphrey (Wanderers), Adrian Maynard (BarbadosYouth B) 21, Dane Currency (BDFYP) 20, Kenroy Williams (St Catherine)19, William Lashley (YMPC), Renaldo Parris (Maple) 18, Tennyson Roach (YMPC), Amal Nurse (Barbados Youth B) 17.