Dear Sir,

In Tuesday's Gazette national cricket coach Gus Logie accused clubs of failing to take responsibility to develop their players and suggested that maybe the time has come for the Board to take the best 16-20 players out of the club system entirely, placing them in an environment where they can attend school and practise together, then arranging competition in an academy.

Logie may well be right, however, I believe a greater effort should be made to actually assist the clubs. To this end I would like to suggest the following:

The establishment of a coaching committee made up of all club coaches on the Island with Gus Logie presiding as chairman. These coaches would be paid a salary, half by the BCB and half by their respective clubs. It would be mandatory that they attend regularly scheduled meeting to discuss all aspects of the game.

Throughout the cricket season national coach Logie and technical director Arnold Manders would divide the Island into two and schedule visits to attend each club, assisting coaches during training sessions.

Most clubs train on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so on these days Logie and Manders would not go into the office until mid-day giving them time in their work day to be involved at club level.

A series of coaching sessions conducted by Logie himself in which he could share his coaching philosophy and demonstrate the techniques he himself employs with all of the club coaches.

Logie in the interview stated: 'Clubs need to make sure their programmes are conducive to the improvement of the players all around and not only in batting or bowling. It must be a holistic programme in terms of development of the players'.

I agree with this statement but I believe Logie himself must be prepared to go into the clubs and work with them to show how this is done. I recognise that for the last few years the emphasis was placed on preparing for the World Cup but now that it is, over priority must be given to development.

If Bermuda cricket is to be successful it cannot focus on an elite group of cricketers alone, club cricket must be strengthened.

Take for instance Australia, yes they have an academy but the entire structure of their cricket is strong, from club to state to national level. Look now at the West Indies when they were world champions regional cricket was strong and competition fierce. Over the years they have declined as a world cricketing force yet the introduction of an academy has not halted that decline.

All I am saying is that a good national team and a strong domestic programme go hand in hand and we should work toward that goal

RECMAN