The Bermuda Cricket Board of Control have arrived at a short-list of two individuals from which to choose a new national team coach to replace the recently departed Doug Ferguson.

While not revealing the names of the two candidates, president Ed Bailey indicated that the board had targeted the Caribbean for the search to find someone to assist Bermuda in their bid for success at January's ICC tournament in Kenya.

It is known that former West Indies players Garfield Sobers and Gordon Greenidge have been approached, but each have other commitments that would seem to rule them out.

Greenidge is believed to be studying in Scotland, while Sobers, who attended this year's Cup Match classic, has a job working for the Barbados department of Tourism.

The name of West Indies skipper Richie Richardson was also mentioned, but with his current involvement in English county cricket with Yorkshire and then a West Indies tour to Sharjah and Sri Lanka in November, he appears a long shot at best.

A distinct possibility though is another former West Indies batsman, Rohan Kanhai, who is the present coach of the West Indies Test team. In fact it was the West Indies Cricket Board of Control that suggested Bermuda look into the possibility of securing his services for the Island's ICC venture.

"This is the quality type of individual we are looking at,'' Bailey said of Kanhai. "Our dilemma is finding someone top notch, who also has the time to come here for four months.'' A salary of $25,000 is on offer for the successful applicant, who will, unlike coaches in the past, accompany the team to Kenya.

Bailey was asked whether a coaching change at this late stage would disrupt or confuse the players if the philosophy of the new man proves radically different from that of Ferguson, an Englishman.

"Basically Ferguson had more of an effect on the younger players than the older ones in the four months he was here,'' Bailey said. "He wasn't telling people how to bat, but if he saw fundamental problems it was his job to correct them.

"What we're looking for is someone with experience, who is a strategist and a motivator ... to keep up the team spirit and unity.

"I'm not degrading the job done by Ferguson, but what we're doing is trying to put everything in focus.'' Part of the preparation is supposed to include a return trip to Barbados, where the squad might again come in contact with the likes of Sobers and Greenidge. However, finances will dictate whether or not a squad will return to Barbados which has long been the intention.

The cost of going to Kenya is expected to be in excess of $100,000 and Bailey said that they would have to be assured of these funds before Barbados could be considered.

"We're giving ourselves all of September to define arrangements,'' he said.

"It's desirable to have the tour -- to Barbados -- and there's a very good chance of it coming off, but we would not be able to confirm it until late September.'' A boost was received on Tuesday when Exel Limited pledged more than $100,000 to help in the development of the sport, but Bailey lamented that it was too early to say exactly how those funds would be used.