Australia national coach Bobby Simpson on a piecemeal basis, BCBC president Ed Bailey confirmed yesterday.

Simpson, who cut the fee he was asking by 50 per cent, will act as an advisor to national coach Allan Douglas as the Bermuda team prepares for its entry into the Shell-Sandals tournament in October and the next ICC Tournament in Malaysia early next year.

"He will come to Bermuda on September 25 and go to the Shell-Sandals with the team,'' Bailey disclosed.

"The team will leave for Guyana on the 30th September with Simpson and return on the 16th of October and Simpson will stay for an extra week with them so he will have the benefit of about four weeks with them.'' Bailey said Simpson, whose services were also sought by two other top ICC teams, would act as a consultant to national coach Douglas.

"I understand through the grapevine that one or two other top associate teams were interested in Simpson on a similiar basis, but he gave us priority,'' said Bailey, who has formed a strong friendship with Simpson following visits by the Australian team over the last few years.

"The initial quote was something we could not handle so he slashed it by 50 per cent. Now he's affordable and we'll make full use of his services.

"There is no way we could raise the funds to retain him here for a continuous period during the winter.'' Bailey explained that Simpson will return to Australia in October and come back to Bermuda in time for the tour of Jamaica in December. He will also accompany the team to Malaysia for the ICC as Bermuda attempts again to qualify for the World Cup.

"Many of the things that are in the same bracket as Bermuda are doing the same thing, getting an extremely experienced coach to come in periodically as the need arises and having a local coach to continue throughout the normal period.

"Allan has done up a resume on each member of the squad and Simpson will obviously digest that, but of course we will not see the `proof of the pudding' until the end of the Shell-Sandals.'' Simpson is highly thought of in international circles, having transformed the Australians in world champions both in limited overs and Test cricket during his reign.

However, Simpson, 61, was not retained when his contract with the Australian Cricket Board expired in May. He had held the position of national coach for 10 years, with former vice captain of the team, Geoff Marsh, the new coach.

Promising youngster Sammy Robinson will leave for England on Tuesday night to spend a month in the MCC coaching programme at Lord's alongwith 23 other youth players from every Test playing and most associate member countries.