the Bermuda national squad touring party when they participate in the Red Stripe Bowl in Antigua and Anguilla next week.

Butcher, who has been making a familiarisation visit to the Island for nearly three weeks, leaves for a short trip home to England this evening before joining up with the Bermuda players in the Caribbean next week.

But unlike some may have anticipated, he has no intention of being merely an observer while at the Red Stripe because he has not had sufficient time to become familiar with the players.

Barbados-born Butcher himself assured that he would not be making the trip to be anything like a bystander.

"No, I wouldn't say that I will not be involved, in fact my role would be just as if I was here on a full-time basis, which is basically, the future strategy of our cricket is down to me and I have to have an input right now,'' he said.

Butcher, who played Test cricket for England, has had at least five training sessions with the squad the last 10 days and regarded the players as being quite responsive on each occasion.

He said that while he would have liked to have had more time with them before their departure a lot was gained from the workouts and suggested that he was quite pleased with the commitment shown by the players.

"Obviously it wasn't as long as really would be necessary, but with the time that was available the sessions were pretty good,'' he said.

Butcher intimated that the tournament gave the locals a tremendous opportunity to raise their level of play.

"It certainly is a good opportunity for them, you always need to be testing yourself against better players, that is what makes a good player, he is able to make a step up and accept it as a challenge and not as an obstacle.

"It is important for a player to get the chance to show what they are against quality opposition, and everybody would be reminded of this tremendous opportunity that lies ahead in the Red Stripe.'' The coach noted that the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control has a plan in mind for the ICC tournament in Canada next year and suggested that the Red Stripe Bowl would give him the chance to gauge the competitive international standard of players.

But he added that he and squad coach Winston Reid were not simply concentrating on ICC.

"At the moment I am focussing on the Red Stripe Bowl and afterwards we will think about the ICC and the other tournaments that lie ahead,'' he said.

BCBC president El James yesterday confirmed that the Knockout semi-final and final, postponed for a third time on Saturday and Sunday because of bad weather, have been put back to the start of next season.

"It will be a nice warm-up for the MCC visit, it will enable our players to get into that competitive mode right at the start of the season,'' said James.

"We had a few options but after talking to the respective captains on Sunday we decided it was best to put it off until then and everybody agreed.'' Roland Butcher: keen to start.