overwhelming support of Bermuda's administrators and players.

Those contacted by The Royal Gazette this week indicated they were in favour of a move to drop the open format in preference to limited overs cricket only.

And all said they believed the proposal was backed by the majority of club players.

Bermuda Cricket Board of Control president El James disclosed last weekend that the governing body intended to disband the current league format which includes separate divisions for open and limited overs play.

In the past the argument for open play has been that such cricket helped develop young players.

But it has also been argued that open cricket is often dull and drives spectators away.

Those supporting the BCBC's move point out that Bermuda's international involvement these days involves almost exclusively limited overs cricket -- tournaments such as the ICC Trophy and the Red Stripe Bowl in the West Indies.

Limited overs, they claim, is also more entertaining and ensures a result which is what the public want to see.

Mansfield Smith, an umpire and former St. George's official, said: "I agree one hundred percent with limited overs cricket simply because all of our competitions are geared to that format, both locally and internationally.

"And the second point is that it is more entertaining than open cricket, especially when you have some teams batting way beyond 5.00 p.m.'' Olin Jones, skipper of Southampton Rangers, commented: "Switching to limited overs only is worth a try. It will probably be the first time we have had a whole league of limited overs play.

"But I thought that last year was a waste of time playing open cricket because we didn't have bonus points ... it got boring after a while with the game dragging on and on and even the players got tired of it.'' Others backing the switch include: Kevin Fubler (Willow Cuts): "I support it. I don't think we should even consider going back to open for a while because it's too long a day using that format and it definitely lacks excitement most of the time.'' Anthony Manders (Western Stars): "Limited overs, that's all we play in international matches and we should try to put all of our resources into mastering that format of play. We are not going to play in any competition that calls for open cricket, all we will play is limited overs and we should concentrate on that alone. All of the other ICC countries play that format as well.'' Cal Waldron (PHC): "I am for limited overs cricket but I must point out that there were a few teams who killed open cricket through batting too long and refusing to give their opponents a decent chance to bat. People want to see a result and that is definitely something that limited overs will give us.''