Traddie Simpson was among those earning a surprise call to national cricket team duty when Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) unveiled the Island's 2008 Stanford 20/20 squad last week.

The 37-year-old Southampton Rangers left-arm fast bowler is one of several new faces in the senior national team set up who will be challenging for one of 13 available spots in Bermuda's squad that will take on defending Stanford 20/20 champions Guyana — led by West Indies star batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul — in Antigua in early February.

At an age when many ponder retirement, the Jamaica-born cricketer is showing no sings of slowing down having played an integral part in Rangers' Two-Day League, Belco Cup and Western Counties successes last summer.

The former Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) executive, who toured the Caribbean with the West Indies Cricket Club of Toronto in 1998, claimed over 30 wickets in all competitions last summer at an average of 12.6 runs per over and an economy rate of 2.8 — impressive figures that have not gone unnoticed by national team selectors who have pinned their hopes on Simpson to deliver the goods in the Caribbean next year.

"I must say that I am very flattered to have been given this wonderful opportunity to train with the team and hopefully I can put my best foot forward, if given a chance to play," said Simpson, who is now determined to grasp the opportunity with both hands. The fast bowler joined Rangers three years ago and in a short period of time has made his mark on the local scene with his ability to make opposing batsmen smell the leather.

"I'm certainly looking forward to the training and getting myself in shape and then hopefully taking things from there," Simpson continued. "It's been a while since I've played in the Caribbean, but I'm looking forward to the opportunity of playing on the turf down there again where the conditions are a lot quicker than here in Bermuda or Canada."

And while Simpson admits Bermuda's task against Guyana won't be an easy one, he is encouraged in the knowledge that cricket is a game in which on the day "anything is possible".

"Guyana won the tournament last year and so it will be no easy feat. But in the 20/20 version anything is possible. If you can make early inroads with the ball you can end up chasing a very low score or vice-versa, and so anything is possible on any given day," he added.

Simpson, who could very well share the new ball with Kevin Hurdle in Antigua, is also a big fan of the phenomenon that is 20/20 cricket. "Any version of the game that brings the game to a wider audience and helps to prolong the longevity of the sport is welcomed," he said. "And certainly with the push to globalise the game and make it more commercial the 20/20 format appears to be the best solution so far."

Meanwhile, other new faces challenging for spots in the senior national team are spinner Garvia Aparcio, promising seamer Ray Butterfield and wicketkeeper Ricky Brangman Jr., while the BCB have also made provisions to include two players who will miss out on selection for the Island's Under-19 World Cup squad to travel to Antigua instead.

Noticeable absentees are St. David's trio OJ Pitcher, Delyone Borden and George O'Brien Jr. as well as Simpson's Rangers' team-mate and coach Janeiro Tucker who is currently serving a six-match suspension for allegedly bringing the game into disrepute.

Also named in the Island's 16-man Stanford 20/20 squad last week were St. David's all-rounder Sammy Robinson and wicketkeeper/batsman Dean Minors who has been lured out of retirement for the cause.

Islanders' slugger Lionel Cann is poised to return to national team duty after being sent home early from Bermuda's last tour of Kenya and Dubai for disciplinary reasons, while Glamorgan skipper David Hemp was also included on the short-list of players who will train under interim coach Herbie Bascome.