participation in the cricket World Cup. A special committee has been set up to probe the allegations and that committee should be left to get on with its job. However there is an issue which involves the tour to Malaysia which we can discuss without making any judgment on what did or did not take place in Malaysia.

If Bermuda has zero tolerance of drugs in sport why were the cricketers and their entourage not tested or searched for illicit substances before they left on tour and after they returned? We say "the cricketers and their entourage'' because we do not believe there should be any assumption that officials should not be tested simply because they are officials.

Given the embarrassing and destructive history of drugs among Bermuda's touring sports teams and given the searing memories in Bermuda of the" Miami Seven'', it is beyond belief that a touring team was not tested. That is especially so given recent meetings on drugs and given public statements on drugs in sport by just about everyone.

Surely officials involved with any touring athletes should have taken care to protect Bermuda from any possible repeat of the "Miami Seven''. The arrests in Miami were all the warning any sensible person needed. That warning was not heeded.

We think the cricket board should also have taken every possible step to protect the team as a whole and individual members of the team. The officials are adults. They know that Bermuda has a drug problem and they know that some people take risks. They also know that Malaysia has some of the toughest drug laws in the world and that the country enforces those laws despite international protests. Death for trafficking drugs is as tough as you can get.

If any offences were committed in Malaysia, and we do not know whether they were or not, Bermuda could have been the centre of an international mess.

Surely the officials knew that Malaysia could detain the entire group for investigation or that any Bermudian who might offend could face death. Yet they did not test to prevent such possibilities. That is without conscience.

There are bound now to be rumours and suspicions as to why the testing was not done. It is entirely logical for people at ask if there was a motive. That alone will work against cricket and reflects, like it or not, on the entire team.

The Minister of Sport, David Dyer, has to take some responsibility for not insisting on testing for all travelling athletes representing Bermuda.

However, the burden must fall directly on the Cricket Board of Control and we think that Ed Bailey and his board must today do the right thing and accept responsibility for their lack of action and resign. That would leave the committee of inquiry unfettered and it would open the way for a reorganisation of cricket in Bermuda just as soccer was reorganised after the "Miami Seven''.

Sports Opinion, Page 13