The new cricket season may be another three months away but Clay Smith is not relaxing during the off-season.

The recently appointed new Bermuda coach has already started the process of identifying and preparing players he wants for the national squad this summer when they compete in Division Four of the World Cricket League.

Smith said he will attempt to get certain players back into the international fold, but insists it is more important that those players want to be a part of the national set-up.

“At the end of the day I think it is important we have players who want to play for Bermuda and are keen to play,” Smith, who has a one-year contract, said. “It’s not about going out and chasing after players, they know they are a part of the squad and it’s up to them whether they come or not.

“So far we’ve had two sessions, and they’ve been fairly decently attended.”

Smith, a former Bermuda captain, beat out former coach Arnold Manders, Lorenzo Tucker and Herbie Bascome for the job. He will combine it with his role as coach of Cleveland County and will have Tucker as his assistant.

Reggie Tucker will be the specialist fielding coach, while Smith’s brother Wendell — Gus Logie’s former assistant national coach when Bermuda qualified for the 2007 World Cup — will do some technical work with the batsmen.

“We will also have people like Cal Waldron and Dean Minors on board, as well as ‘Sluggo’ [Dwayne Leverock] and Irving Romaine who are on the high-performance committee,” Smith said.

One area that will be looked at in the coming weeks is the captaincy which is held by Janeiro Tucker, now 40 years old.

“At the last tournament he was asked to hang on as captain and that’s an area we’ll be looking at in the near future,” Smith said. “That decision should be made in the next month.

“We have some good youngsters coming through who are pushing for a spot, so if they’re the ones who we have to lean towards for some places then so be it,” said Smith, although he recognises a balance between youth and experience needs to be struck.

“There’s a core of players who you want to build your team around for the future but at the same time you still need some experience around them, so it would be good to have players like Dion [Stovell] and Janeiro [Tucker] to add some experience to the team.

“It’s one thing being successful on the domestic level but at the international level it’s a whole different ball game and you need players who have been there, done that.”

The likes of Delray Rawlins, Kamau Leverock and Tre Manders, all overseas, will be a part of the squad and, along with Terryn Fray, represent the future.

“We have a nine-month plan in place, and we’re hoping to cut the squad by the end of June,” Smith said. “Between May and June we’re looking to have at least four inter-squad trial games so players will have an opportunity to perform and stake a claim through their performances.

“Initially it was a squad of 50 but at least 12 players are overseas, which leaves you with at about 35 to 40 players locally, and from that realistically you’re only going to get about 20 to 25 of them who are going to put their best foot forward and train the way a national player should.”

Smith wants to bring his winning mentality into the national set-up and is already taking a different approach.

“The training has been a lot different already, and when they come to BHS they don’t all train together, there are three different waves of players who come in,” he said. “That way we’re able to give them more one-on-one specific training as opposed to everyone training together.

“Once the job was advertised I didn’t hesitate, it is something I’ve been looking to do for quite some time. I’ve had years of experience under my belt coaching various clubs in Bermuda and I feel that I’ll be able to get the respect from the players and to get the job done.”