No less than 34 teams will con­test the four di­vi­sions of play, when the high­ly an­tic­i­pat­ed East­ern Com­mu­ni­ty Bas­ket­ball League re­turns from a thee-year hia­tus to­mor­row, with women and men's di­vi­sion dou­ble-head­er at the Mal­oney In­door Sports Are­na.

The event will start with a pa­rade of teams sched­uled for 3.30 pm, rough­ly a half-hour be­fore the first fix­ture of the sea­son be­tween Star Seek­ers of To­ba­go and La Hor­quet­ta Colours. At around 5.30 pm, the men's first di­vi­sion will get un­der way with a clash be­tween Va­len­cia Heat and La Hor­quet­ta Force.

Va­len­cia Heat, run­ners-up in the last sea­son, are among the favourites to win the first di­vi­sion ti­tle giv­en their tal­ents, which in­clude for­mer pro­fes­sion­al Dwayne Vir­gil, for­mer col­lege play­ers Wayne Richard and Kevon Nor­eiga, and the up-and-com­ing due of Ivan Williams and Jef­frey Saun­ders.

Forces, who were pro­mot­ed in the last East Zone league, have mar­quee play­ers in Jef­frey Bourne and Hailan St Bernard. Mal­oney Pac­ers are the de­fend­ing men's cham­pi­ons hav­ing won the ti­tle when the league was last held in 2012. The team al­so boasts tal­ent­ed play­ers ion Keon Joseph, Jimel Lewis and Kevon Kahn.

Diego Mar­tin All Stars won the last women's di­vi­sion ti­tle but will not re­turn to de­fend their ti­tle.

At the con­clu­sion of league play, one team will be rel­e­gat­ed from the men's di­vi­sion and two pro­mot­ed from the sec­ond di­vi­sion. Thus far, nine teams have con­firmed their par­tic­i­pa­tion in the first di­vi­sion, with three oth­ers pend­ing.

Thir­teen have con­firmed in the sec­ond di­vi­sion; five con­firmed and three pend­ing in the women's di­vi­sion and eight con­firmed in the U-17 di­vi­sion. No more than 41 teams will com­pete if all pend­ing teams con­firm their par­tic­i­pa­tion.