Islands when they compete again in the Shell/Sandals tournament in October.

This time the national cricket team will play their Group A matches in Grenada and St. Lucia between October 3 and 12, starting with two matches against Barbados in Grenada on October 3 and 4.

They will then fly to St. Lucia for two matches against the Windwards on the seventh and ninth before returning to Grenada to meet Brian Lara and his fellow Trinidadians in two more matches on October 11 and 12. St. Vincent and Dominica will also host Group A matches. Trinidad are defending Shell/Sandals champions, beating Guyana in the final last year.

Last October the Bermuda team competed in Guyana in the same group as the Windwards, Barbados and Guyana. Group B will consist of Jamaica, Guyana, the Leeward Islands and the United States, who are alternating with Canada who competed last year. Those matches will be played in St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla and Antigua.

"The sponsors do have a say where the tournament will be played,'' said Bermuda Cricket Board of Contral president Ed Bailey. "Once the tournament starts the teams will fly between the islands, all provided by the sponsors.'' Meanwhile, Bermuda coach Allan Douglas will soon be finalising the squad for Bermuda's two matches against visiting India on May 8 and 10. All except one player presently with the India team in the West Indies will be arriving here after a short stay in New York.

It is expected that captain Sachin Tendulkar, who along with Brian Lara of the West Indies is rated as one of the top two batsmen in the world, will be in the India tour party. It will be a challenging two matches for the local players who start their season this weekend. Bailey suggested that there will be few changes from the group which finished ninth in the recent ICC Tournament in Malaysia.

"If a team fails you once in a major competition you cannot write off all the players,'' he said.

Also taking place this summer will be the International Youth Tournament which was last staged here in 1985. This time the top two teams will qualify for the under-19 World Cup in South Africa early next year.

That does not include England, who will also compete here. As a Test nation, they are already certain of a spot in the World Cup and do not have to qualify.

The World Cup will be made up of 17 teams, the nine Test playing countries and seven associate countries.