The teams in Zone Two, which will be played in Jamaica, are defending champions Leeward Islands, Jamaica, Barbados and the United States, and at the end of the preliminary round on Sunday, October 11, one of the Leeward Islands, Jamaica or Barbados will not make it to the final four.

Jamaicans, however, are not worried. As far as they are concerned, even without ace fast bowler Courtney Walsh, they will be one of the four teams at Kaiser for the super weekend. Jamaicans, in fact, many of them, believe Jamaica will not only make it to the final four, but also, unlike last year, that they will make it to the last two and win the title.

There are two reasons for the confidence.

The first one is that the batsmen of the Leeward Islands and Barbados are suspect against good spin bowling, and the locals believe that an attack which includes two of offspinner Nehemiah Perry, orthodox left-arm spinner Ryan Cunningham and right-arm legspinner Brian Murphy could prove too much for them - especially in a limited-over competition where patience is not a virtue.

The second is the presence of batsmen like Raymond Ferguson and Howard Harris - two hard-hitting batsmen who fear no foe and who, if they really get going, could be devastating.

Only time will tell, however - just as it will be as far as the performance of the US is concerned.

First-timers in the regional competition, the US are expected to be easy pickings for the Leeward Islands, Jamaica and Barbados - even with nine West Indians, including five Jamaicans, in their squad.

The US is not a cricketing country, cricket in the US is played on mat, although the players are all West Indians, Indians and Pakistanis they have become accustomed to playing on mat and it will be interesting to see how their batsmen, after so many years away from it, cope with turf pitches.

The US are not expected to be in the running for the two top positions in Zone Two. In a competition like the Red Stripe Bowl, however, they could have a good day, knock off one of the big three, and stop them from going on to Kaiser.

Let's hope it is not Jamaica. That would be ironic, not only because of the presence of Rohan Alexander, Dave Wallace, Dave Hoilette and Garfield Williams, but also because the US is led by none other than Richard Staple - the former Jamaica batsman who showed so much promise, never fulfilled that promise, went off to the US in disappointment and probably has something to prove.