Bermuda Cricket Board has named a 54-man national team training squad as it looks to find a team that will lift the Island out of Division Four of the ICC World Cricket League.

Players from both Premier and First Division clubs have been included, with the experience of David Hemp and Janeiro Tucker balanced out by newcomers such as Seth Campbell, the Western Stars bowler.

There are a couple of surprise inclusions, and omissions, with Stephen Outerbridge and Fiqre Crockwell noticeable by their absence in such a large squad.

According to the Board, Outerbridge decided to make himself unavailable for selection, while Crockwell’s well-publicised problems last year seem to have been the main reason for his omission.

Still, 54 is a healthy number of players to choose from, and gives Clay Smith, the national head coach, a starting point from which to select a team he hopes will turn the Island’s fortunes around on the international stage.

The actual number at Smith’s disposal is likely to be far fewer than the players named in the squad, with the likes of Hemp, Greg Maybury, Kamau Leverock, Delray Rawlins, Jordan Smith, Christian Burgess and Tre Manders all based overseas.

“We have a large squad because we wanted to increase the pool of players training, which will increase the competition for places in the team,” Smith said.

“We have found previously that several players opted not to train for whatever reason, and with such a large number of players being oversees our local training squad numbers were small. Also, we are keen to introduce a Bermuda A team, which would enable us to have a feeding ground.”

With the likes of Cameron Jeffers, Alex Dore and Azendé Furbert, all Bermuda Under-19 players, the expectation is that they will form the nucleus of an A team that will be expected to challenge their senior counterparts for places in the national side.

With the date for the Division Four tournament still unconfirmed, Smith is under no pressure to reduce the size of the squad, although the Board has a date in mind when it believes they would be ready to do so. That is not the same for the players, with the ones on the Island all expected to attend a mandatory meeting at the BCB offices tomorrow evening.

“We don’t have to reduce players at a certain point but we will for obvious reasons,” Smith said. “We have a date in mind, but this depends on when the tournament is actually going to take place. But, before we reduce the squad we aim to have three or four trial games to allow players to fight for a place in the team.”

Gershon Gibbons, the chairman of the BCB high-performance committee, believes the Board has created an environment whereby the national team can train to succeed on the world stage.

“I am very pleased at the increased number of players that are showing a keen interest to help move Bermuda back up the world rankings,” he said. “The BCB is confident that if the squad can fully embrace the thorough and professional programme designed for their preparation by the high-performance committee then good results will follow.”