testimonial celebrations, organisers will be pleased to see their dream of Saturday's extravaganza take its final shape.

Parfitt arrived from England at the weekend and with plans confirmed for the West Indies and Trinidadian allrounder, the event -- which is the brainchild of former Bermuda Cricket Board of Control administrator Custerfield Crockwell -- seems destined to be a great success.

The one thing that has the committee for the testimonial beaming with delight is the overwhelming response that has been received from the business community as far as sponsorship is concerned.

At a time when sponsorship has been either withdrawn or declining from big organisations there has been high interest shown by the corporate sector to assist this event.

The overall reaction has influenced Crockwell, the chairman and spokesman of the organising committee, to regard the occasion as being a once-in-a-lifetime one for cricket followers.

"With the support we are getting this should be a real classic, one we hopefully will have the similar community-oriented atmosphere and excitement that exists during county matches and other major games at Lord's, which has become renowned for the sport of cricket,'' said Crockwell.

"To ensure that the event will whet the appetite of the fans we are having crown an anchor as well as a number of raffles, all of which have been gratefully donated by the business sector,'' he added.

There will be a gate raffle of a round-trip to Barbados for one next year to see the Test between the West Indies and New Zealand donated by Brown Charters, while Meyer have donated a similar ticket as a raffle for $1 for a trip to the Test in Antigua.

In addition to these two travel prizes there will be many other smaller raffle draws taking place each hour during the day which will see action starting with a match featuring senior players at 10 a.m. -- Cal (Bummy) Symonds XI taking on Randy Horton's XI in a 20 overs fixture.

The main game, played over 40 overs, will start at 1.30 p.m. with the feature teams skippered by Wendell Smith and Albert Steede -- Parfitt and Simmons to be included in separate line-ups.

Crockwell had lots of praise for his main sponsors such as Belmont Hotel who were putting up both Parfitt and Simmons at no cost to the committee while also applauding BF&M for paying Simmons' air ticket from England and Shell Company of Bermuda for doing likewise for Parfitt.

Also included in the list of main sponsors are Flanagan's and Burrows Lightbourn who were sponsoring most of the social functions that are to take place.

Among the social activities planned are a welcoming cocktail party at Hamilton Parish on Friday from 7.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and a cocktail party and barbeque followed by a presentation at Nationals on Sunday, starting at 6 p.m.

Admission to the event at Nationals is $20 for which there is a very limited number of tickets.

Crockwell also revealed that admission to the testimonial will be $5.

PHIL SIMMONS -- Will take part in festivities honouring Parfitt.