TOM Huggins will lead Suffolk for the first time in a Minor Counties Championship match tomorrow as Cambridgeshire visit Bury St Edmunds.

Huggins assumes the captaincy because skipper Justin Bishop is still injured and Chris Swallow is unavailable.

Work commitments rule out Paul King and Pete Turnbull is playing for Cambridge UCCE, leaving Suffolk’s bowling resources stretched.

Kevin Brooks, the county’s director of cricket and coach, will be finalising his side today for the three-day Eastern Division match at the Victory Ground, start 11am.

Brooks said: “When you take Justin Bishop, Chris Swallow, Paul King and Pete Turnbull out of your attack it is going to have an effect on you.

“Going into the season we were unable to identify another experienced seamer to add to our squad, which I guess is the same for most Minor Counties sides, and you hope that injuries don’t come along but they are part and parcel of the game.

“We are not going to be at what we consider full strength, but it will give some of our younger bowlers an opportunity to show us what they can do and we will find out more about them.”

Suffolk escaped with a draw and ten points from their opening match of the season against Lincolnshire at Sleaford when rain washed out the final day’s play with the visitors struggling to avoid defeat.

Brooks said: “We were fortunate in the sense that whilst we did not play as well as we are capable of, we have not lost any ground.

“We are going into the match with a lot of confidence from the batting point of view - all our top six have got some runs under their belts which should stand us in good stead.”

The top six of Huggins, Ben France, Martyn Cull, Hassan Adnan, Freddie Klokker and Chris Warn will be joined in the side by James Finch, the 21-year-old off spinner who was released by Yorkshire at the end of last season and will be making his home Championship debut.