a national coach last night.

The Board's coaching committee were poised to choose the person recommended by top executives -- president El James and vice-president Reginald Pearman -- who recently interviewed a number of candidates in England.

Whether their choice met the satisfaction of the coaching committee remained to be seen.

But prior to last night's meeting, James was confident that the committee would make a straightforward decision, noting that he believed they would be pleased with the short list which had been initially drawn up and with the person who had been recommended for the post which could pay between $50,000 to $65,000 a year.

"All I am prepared to say at this moment is that we have interviewed some people while in England recently and we returned with a short list of very capable people for the job,'' said James.

"The coaching committee were scheduled to make a final decision of their choice last night then it would be left for them to contact the individual concerned and inform him about his success.'' The fact that the meeting was held in England doesn't necessarily mean that their choice will be an Englishman because there were several candidates from various nationalities in the country at the time, watching the current Test series between England and the West Indies.

Among the former West Indies Test players reported to have had an interest in the job were Desmond Haynes, Alvin Kallicharran and Gordon Greenidge while the names of former English Test and county players interested have not been identified.

"If the person accepts all of the conditions that we are asking then we should be able to announce his name very soon, but it looks as though the ball will definitely be placed in his court,'' said James.

"One thing I can assure all of Bermuda is that it will be a person well equipped to prepare our national squads, somebody who can go into the schools, who is able to train not only the players but the teachers as well, somebody who can also go out into the community and sports clubs to coach.

"It has always been our intention to employ somebody who can organise a complete national programme for us, covering all levels of the sport, and preferably somebody who is the holder of a recognised coaching certificate who has also had a lot of international experience at a playing level.''