THEY may be in their 40s and 50s and past their prime, but don't think for a moment the Bermuda Masters will be going to the Antiguan Annual Independence Cricket Festival for a few fun games.

That was never the way these players played their cricket and already they are talking about making a strong bid for the title. After all they didn't change their return date ? which happened to be on the same date of the final ? just so they could stay and watch the tournament climax.

"We're obviously going down there to win," said team member Allen Richardson, who at 48 turned out for St. David's this season and was even recalled to their Eastern Counties team for two matches.

"From day one there hasn't been any talk about finishing second. We even had to change all our travel arrangements because we were due to come back on October 28 but we found out that was the day of the final so we changed our schedule."

However, Richardson stressed it isn't all just about winning. "We want to be good ambassadors for Bermuda, have a good time and meet some people and make some new friends," he said. The team, captained by former Devonshire Rec, Bermuda and St. George's Cup Match allrounder Lionel Thomas, leaves Bermuda on Saturday and will play their first match on Sunday against the England Masters. There are eight teams in the tournament, split into two groups of four, with Bermuda completing their group matches against New York Masters on Tuesday and Canada Masters next Thursday. The semi-finals are slated for next Friday and the final next Saturday.

The second group will comprise the host island as well as St. Croix, Caribbean Sports Club and the United Arab Emirates Masters. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals. Matches are 30 overs per side (each bowler is restricted to five overs) and no former professional players are allowed to participate.

Richardson said the Bermuda players, who have been training and looking forward to the trip, are setting their sights high in the tournament. And even though the squad was robbed of the likes of Braxton Stowe (health), Noel Gibbons (injury), Jeff Richardson, Arnold Manders and Allan Douglas, who were unavailable, as was Charlie Marshall as a late replacement, the tour party of 13 still contains some former players of high repute.

Vice captain is Andre Manders while Ricky Hill, Clevie Wade, Ricky Brangman, George Cannonier, James Swan, Hoyt Zuill, Ken Pitcher Treadwell Gibbons, Gerald Bean and Gilbert Caisey will also represent the island. Team officials are Warrington (Soup) Zuill and Randy Raynor. The trip has been sanctioned by the BCB but the players are funding the trip themselves.

"It's good to see the guys who don't play a lot back out playing," said Richardson who will share the wicketkeeping duties with Treadwell Gibbons.

"Lionel's trademark flick off his pads is still there! This has really brought these guys back to life. To see them back out there training reminds me of some good times I used to have with them and against them."

Added Richardson: "A couple of these guys can still play. Unfortunately we tend to leave the game too early and then the younger players cannot look and learn from the older ones. During these guys' time the camaraderie when we played was very keen but once the game finished we talked and made friends for life. It's really been fun talking about old times.

"Soup Zuill, the manager, told the guys they will have a nine o'clock curfew and Ricky Hill and Clevie Wade both said 'what do you mean, 9 a.m. or 9 p.m.'?"

The tournament may just be the start of regular competition for Bermuda's over 40 cricketers. "There has been some talk from the England players about possibly doing something in England, there has been some talk to do something very similar in Canada and there was some talk about the UAE but the logistics of flying there would make it too expensive," said team spokesman Richardson.

"The other Caribbean Island, St. Croix, also expressed an interest. I'm going to look at how it is run and if we can have that same group maybe they could come to Bermuda for a competition. Our next tournament is in Argentina who have a tournament every March."

However, Richardson, a vice president of the Bermuda Cricket Board, concedes it may be difficult raising a team for that trip which comes in the same month as the World Cup. Many locals have made plans to travel to Trinidad to support Bermuda.

"Through various ICC Americas region meetings that I've attended, I've met many people and almost everyone has an over 40 or over 45 tournament," said Richardson.

"There are many tournaments, we just have to select which is more feasible for us. I'm looking for our Masters team to not only go and play in one of these tournaments but to do some coaching for kids on our days off as well."

Players in the current team who presently coach locally include Andre Manders, George Cannonier, Clevie Wade, Ricky Brangman and Ricky Hill.