Coach Gus Logie has staunchly defended Bermuda Cricket Board's (BCB) decision to send beleagured national team skipper Irving Romaine to a six-week training camp in Brisbane, Australia next month.

Earlier this week Romaine, whose leadership qualities have come under close scrutiny after a poor run of form, was named among six players who will get the opportunity to enhance their skills in a professional setting Down Under.

However, Romaine's inclusion hasn't gone down particularly well among the local cricket fraternity as there are those who feel Bermuda cricket may be better served by sending another youngster to Australia, as opposed to a 36-year old cricketer nearing the end of his career.

Backing his skipper, Trinidadian Logie yesterday threw his weight firmly behind the Board's decision to include Romaine in the group.

"As far as I am concerned the decision is ours and we have made it. It is as simple as that," a clearly agitated Logie said before slamming the phone down on The Royal Gazette.

"The World Cup qualifiers are coming up and obviously Irving is going to be a part of that and so this (training camp) is also a part of our preparations.

"Irving is the captain and at this point in time we need for him to get as much exposure as possible.

"As far as we are concerned all of the players (chosen for training camp) are going to be important to our qualification plans in the next few months.

"He (Romaine) is going to be getting more exposure working alongside the players he will be playing with (during World Cup qualifiers) that will allow him to make a better assessment of them. We need to send people there (Australia) who are going to be part of the process of qualifying and Irving is a part of the qualifying process.

"All of the players that are going down there have done well for Bermuda in the past.

"They are part of the core group of the Bermuda national team.

"These are the guys we have to give exposure to. Who else should we give exposure to?

"The citeria is that they are all part of the team that is going to be involved in the 2011 World Cup qualifiers and we have included young players which I think will benefit us in the future. It's as simple as that."

In 2006 Romaine attended the Pretoria Cricket Academy in South Africa along with national squad team-mates Kevin Hurdle, Kwame Tucker and Stefan Kelly.

He is also the first Bermudian batsman to hit a half-century and a century in an International Cricket Council (ICC) sanctioned One-Day International (ODI), smashing 69 off Test side Zimbabwe and a memorable 101 against Canada.

Romaine has appeared in 33 ODIs for Bermuda, stroking 751 runs at an average of 25.03.

Accompanying the Bermuda skipper Down Under next month are promising youngsters Chris Douglas, Oronde Bascome, Rodney Trott, Tamauri Tucker and Kyle Hodsoll.