Bermuda will have home field advantage when they take on some of the best squash players in the Caribbean at the forthcoming Rosebowl tournament.

The competition, featuring Bermuda, Bahamas, Cayman and Jamaica, will be held at the Bermuda Squash Racquets Association headquarters on Middle Road between April 4 and 6.

And Ross Triffitt, director of squash, believes his players can go all the way.

"Normally, the host country is the favourite so we are probably favoured to win the overall title, the Rosebowl," said Triffitt.

"There are four other divisions, Men's A, Men's B, Ladies and Veterans. Last year we won the Men's A from Cayman Islands, lost the Men's B to the same team, won the Veterans and we finished third in the Ladies.

"We lost the overall title to the Caymans on countback."

The last time Bermuda won the overall title was when the Island hosted the tournament in 1998 and since then the programme has gone from strength to strength.

"The team is not officially announced until after what is effectively our national championships - the Fast Forward Freight tournament - which is running now," Triffitt said.

However, although the names will not be released until Monday, it is fair to assume that among their number will be Gary Plumstead, Nick Kyme, Chase Toogood, Tommy Sherratt, James Stout and Harry McKenzie.

"It will be the strongest squad that we have ever had," promised Triffitt. "One of our players, Sam Stevens is injured and will probably be undergoing back surgery in a couple of months. But apart from him we have Nick Kyme back on the Island and available and James Stout flying in from the UK, so we really will be fielding our strongest possible team."

Triffitt said the development of the game on the Island had led to an improvement in standards, especially among junior players.

"Nick Kyme and Sam Stevens have gone through the junior programme," he said. "Now we have James Stout and Stephen Smith who are current members of the programme and who will be forces to be reckoned with when it comes to team selection.

"On top of that we have been very lucky to have some international players coming in as well, the latest being Nick Wiffen, who unfortunately will just miss out by a month on qualifying for the team."

The Bermuda teams will be playing on the Thursday and Friday evenings and the matches will be open to the public.

"The opening ceremony will be on Thursday, April 4," said Triffitt. "We will have a match before that at 12 p.m. and the evening match will commence at 6.30 p.m. and feature Bermuda against a team to be determined."

On Friday there will be matches at 12 p.m. and Bermuda will then take to the court at 6 p.m.

"On Saturday April 6 there will be a match at 10 a.m. and Bermuda will play at 2 p.m.."

For more details on the tournament call the Squash Association on 292-6881.