Jermaine Lannaman, Star Writer

The inaugural Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) Red Stripe Twenty20 Championship is set to bowl off today with knockout double header matches at Up Park Camp in Kingston and St Ann Bauxite Sports Club, formerly Kaiser Bauxite Oval.

In the first game of the Up Park Camp battle, Kensington Cricket Club, which will use the emblem of moniker Dragons, will go up against St Thomas Prodigals at 10am, while at 2pm Lucas Eagles will meet Portland Alligators.

The north coast, in the meanwhile, will see Westmoreland Wizards taking on GC Foster Crocodiles at 10am, Clarendon Bears tackling St Catherine Cricket Association Crusaders at 2 p.m.

"Twenty20 is about who executes well on the day. We have a set of good young players, their all-round ability is very good, and I am expecting them to play very well," said Kensington coach, David Bernard Sr.

"Twenty20 is always very exciting and the tournament will be tense, especially for the players. We would like to go far in tournament and as such want to win this opening game and keep going forward," he added.

The Dragons, who have been competing in the nation's second tier two-day competition for the past three seasons, will be seeking to salvage some pride and will look to national Under-19 representatives leg-spinner Akeem Dewar, pacer Jermaine Cole, and former national Under-19 representatives, Horace Miller and Rasheed Outar.

Up Park Camp's feature match, in the meantime, will see Lucas, without the services of Christopher Gayle, who is in the eastern Caribbean conducting a Digicel Cricket Clinic.

"He is out. He is not on the island and won't be back until about Sunday," said Eagles captain, Wayne Gayle, who is Chris's younger brother. "It's a big loss as we would have liked to have him in the team. But we will play, and play to the best of our ability as our aim is to get past the first round.

"If we win then it is quite possible we could have him for the next round," he added.

Lucas will look to national Under-19 batsman Ramon Senior, Gary Herbine, Orlando Minott and wicketkeeper batsman, Junior McKenzie, for inspiration.