Dear Sir,

I read with interest the letter to Sports Mailbox by 'Way', it criticised me for suggesting that Hemp be dropped after the one-day matches. Mr. Editor I believed my decision was the correct one at the time and I stand by it. Remember Hemp had amassed a grand total of 33 runs at an average of 6.6 in five matches, only getting into double figures once, a top score of 11 in the last one-day match I recall.

With a performance like that, how can one justify keeping him in the team? Think of the players sitting on the bench awaiting their opportunity. They deserve a chance, as I said then and reiterate now, it is manifestly unfair to leave them on the sidelines and allow Hemp to keep failing.

Now fortunately for Hemp, Lionel had been banned by the BCB, because to be frank he wouldn't have been in my team had Lionel been available. Speaking about Lionel I cannot understand why Logie decided to bat him first wicket down in the first place, everybody knows that Lionel is a middle- to lower-order batsman. What makes the decision more confusing is that Irving Romaine had scored 61 not out the day before at number three, why the change? Then Rodney Trott who has performed well at number seven all of a sudden gets promoted to number three - go figure.

It seems to me that Hemp is being shielded in the middle order while youngsters like Rodney Trott and Azeem Pitcher are put up early in the order and thrown to the wolves. Hemp is the professional he should face the 'music' and work to make life easier for the incoming batsmen not the other way around.

On another note I was riding home on Thursday and could not help but notice the preparations being made for the annual 'Rugby Classic'. I could be wrong but it appears the rugby players will be running right over the spot where the cricket pitch is laid. Now we all know about the unfortunate situation with the wicket up there but it boggles my mind that our under-19 team who compete in the youth world cup in around three months' time has been without a field to train on for the last six weeks.

Let me make it clear I am not blaming the Government for the problems at the NSC and the under-19s having no where to train, but responsibility has to lie on the BCB. Surely they must have been aware that the NSC would be unavailable and the failure to secure an alternative is just plain irresponsible.

As everyone in Bermuda knows, Sea Breeze Oval is the only BCB-sanctioned cricket ground with a turf wicket which lays dormant during the off season. Why couldn't BCB president Reggie Pearman contact Bailey's Bay officials and arrange to use the field for our under-19 team to train on?

I can't understand how this could be overlooked. If the under-19 team perform as poorly in their world cup as our senior team did, then we all know one of the reasons why!!!

Recman