Dean Minors was elevated to opener while two of the Island?s most promising youngsters were left out as Bermuda took on a United Arab Emirates Select XI today at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium ? the opening game of their five-match tour to the Middle East.

The match was scheduled to start at 1.30 a.m. Bermuda time ? 9.30 a.m UAE time.

Coach Gus Logie picked 12 for the opening encounter, allowing young seamers Jim West and Stefan Kelly to put their feet up for the day.

He also experimented with wicketkeeper-batsman Minors opening the innings, as Bermuda?s search for weighty contributions at the top of the order continued.

Janeiro Tucker?s men touched down at Sharjah International Airport last Friday and used the weekend to practice at the ground and acclimatise for their action-packed nine-day schedule.

Speaking from the team hotel yesterday, Tucker said there were no last-minute injury worries and that everybody in the 14-man squad was in good spirits.

The practice facilities at the stadium ? which has hosted a large number of One Day Internationals and even the odd Test match ? were ?first class? according to Tucker and the daily workouts had helped shake the jet-lag out of their systems.

The mild weather, with temperatures at their peak rarely getting above a pleasant 75 degrees Fahrenheit ? had made training much easier as well, Tucker added.

?We?ve had a good couple of days on the training ground getting ourselves ready,? he said.

?The younger players who are new to the squad such as Jim West and Stefan Kelly have settled in well and seem pretty comfortable mixing with the more senior players. It will be good to see how they perform at this sort of level.?

Logie and Tucker both spent a substantial amount of time over the weekend monitoring the preparation of the pitch ? a surface Tucker believes will provide true, even bounce and generally favour the batsman.

?The wicket looks good, although I think there might be quite a bit of extra bounce there with the new ball,? he said.

?We expect it to play the same as the wickets down in Namibia which were generally good for batting but offered a little bit of help to to the spinners as the games go on.?

All four games to be played in Sharjah could be on the same strip, Tucker revealed, with the left arm spin duo of Dwayne Leverock and Hasan Durham likely to be Bermuda?s principle weapon as the wicket wears.

The national squad are provisionally scheduled to spend over 10 weeks abroad playing cricket this year, with the players set to be paid for their efforts for the very first time.

Tucker was adamant, however, that the team would not be affected by the weight of expectation which will accompany their semi-professional status and Government?s unprecedented $11 million cash injection.

?All this talk of added pressure is just something the media makes a big deal of,? he said.

?For us, we?re all just about getting on with it and looking to improve. We are at a very early stage right now and we?re still looking at different players and deciding what our best team is. Yes, it?s good for cricket that we have all this extra money, but as players we are just going to carry on as we were before and not worrying about pressure.?

Meanwhile, BCB chief executive Neil Speight revealed yesterday that Azeem Pitcher, who was originally selected as part of a 15-man squad, was unable to make the trip because of work commitments.

(from) J. Tucker (captain), I.Romaine, D.Minors, D.Leverock, S.Mukuddem, K.Hurdle, R.Steede, J.Edness, S.Outerbridge, H.Durham, J.Robinson, L.Cann.- Bermuda v UAE in Sharjah (day) - Rest/light training in Sharjah - Bermuda v UAE in Sharjah (day/night)- Bermuda v UAE in Sharjah (day/night)- Rest/light training in Sharjah- Bermuda v UAE in Abu Dhabi (day)- Rest day? Depart