Bermuda cricket coach Allan Douglas has turned to mind games in an attempt to increase his team's chances of achieving their first win in the Red Stripe Bowl.

He has spoken to the squad about using visualisation techniques to "see'' their success before it happens.

Douglas says he has always been interested in sports psychology -- even using a psychologist from St. Brendan's when he coached the youth team to victory in the International Youth Tournament in 1984.

"What happened a lot before is that we have spent too much time on what went wrong,'' he said last night. "But on Wednesday there were so many things that went right.

"I was reading an article on the psychology of fast bowling and I thought it would be good to share it with the team. "When Bobby Simpson was with us I remember at first he thought it was humorous the way everybody would have a go at each other. But after a while he began to think that wasn't cricket. It didn't happen anywhere else in the world.'' Bermuda came agonisingly close to their first victory in the competition three days ago after being set a revised target of 106 in 25 overs following three hours of heavy rain that interrupted the game against Jamaica at Alpart.

Douglas continued: "I wanted to spend some time on visualising what it felt like bowling well.'' Opening bowler Herbie Bascome, who conceded just nine runs in six excellent overs at the beginning of Jamaica's innings, told the rest of the team that he felt like he was in "the zone'' at that time, said Douglas.

"He had bowled eight balls in exactly the right spot while warming up for the game and had decided that was enough. He felt he was moving smoothly and didn't want to lose that feeling by bowling a bad ball.

"I told him to focus on all that was good about that day.

"If something went well, remember how it felt -- everything from the morning breakfast to the bus ride to the ground. If he wanted to get into that zone again he should do everything the same.'' Most of the top sides in world cricket have made use of pyschology as the mental aspects of the game become more widely recognised.

The Bermuda team also had a tough physical workout yesterday, getting up at 7 a.m. for an hour-long gynm session before moving onto Jamaican Test venue Sabina Park for fielding practice and two hours' nets.

"Trying to get this lot up at seven in the morning is usually like pulling teeth, but they were all up today and raring to go. It was a great workout.

The guys really gave me everything.'' Bermuda play their remaining two games back-to-back against Guyana on Monday and the Windward Islands on Tuesday.

Douglas took some video footage of the match between the two teams at Alpart on Thursday, searching for some weaknesses to exploit. It is doubtful however whether he will have learned too much, since the pitch there, like in the Bermuda/Jamaica match, had a huge bearing on the outcome.

Defending champions Guyana won by three wickets after slow left armer Neil McGarrell had spun the Windwards out for 76, taking 5-20 as the ball began to turn and jump.

Allan Douglas: Visualising success.

Herbie Bascome: Excellent spell.