Dear Sir,

I was encouraged to read the comments of El James in your paper. He has some interesting ideas on the future direction of sport on the Island and I was pleased that he mentioned a number of sports which have had successful programmes for many years but seem to get little support from Government.

I can understand the bias towards football and cricket but we are far more likely to achieve international success on an individual basis than we ever will in team sport, and with all due respect I think many of the minor sports are managed better.

Flora Duffy has the potential to be a champion triathlete at senior level, we have a few very good young swimmers and golfers.

We have already had a squash professional well inside the top 100 and with the excellent junior programme I would not be surprised to see more in the future.

Tyler Butterfield is climbing the ranks in cycling. Since the artificial hockey pitch was put down, that sport has taken a big leap forward.

I would like to suggest that the next time big money is allocated the Government should use it to complete the swimming complex at the National Sports Centre and also make some sizeable contributions to individual sports (I have not listed them all).

Yours in sport,

ALAN GAMBLE

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Dear Sir,

Let me congratulate the Bermuda national cricket team on their fine effort at the recent World Cup.

As I sit and read Gus Logie's articles about moving forward with the youth it brings about one major question. Will Gus Logie do what's best for the country and replace our current captain or will Gus Logie becuase of his friendship and loyalty persevere with Irving Romaine.

No disrespect to Irving but he was given the captaincy due to a long standing injury to Clay Smith and he has done his best, but is he really the man to lead us on from here?

Firstly, I think the captaincy has taken a lot away from Irving's batting. he once was an aggressive stroke player who entertained us with his aggression and powerful strokeplay, but now he is tame and cautious, restricting his ability.

Secondly, Irving as nice of a person as he is, simply is just not tactically sound enough, thus bringing me to another big question.

What is the role of captain? A captain should be a student of the game, someone who can motivate his players, be tactically sound when the chips are down, be able to bring the best out of his players. Sorry Gus, but at the end of the day captains are born, not made.

Throughout the World Cup while we were taking a beating, not once did I see Irving get upset or at least show some sort of emotion like it all mattered to him. the vision of him walking off smiling after having just gotten a duck blew me away.

It just seemed like he was happy to be there and that alone was enough for him.

So Gus Logie I ask, is this the man we want leading us as we attempt to qualify for the next World Cup?

One may ask if not Irving, with Dean retired, Janeiro not interested, who do we turn to?

The truth is outside of Clay Smith there is only one player who has what it takes to lead Bermuda and that is Lionel Cann. Just look back at how he captained St. George's to an astonishing victory last year over Somerset at Cup Match.

Lionel is a feisty, gutsy, cocky character, and I can go on and on, but most of all he is a born winner.

Lionel has a winner's mentality and if you look at the squad right now that is something we are seriously lacking.

To Gus Logie and the selectors I seriously urge you to reconsider the captaincy of our national team because as the old saying goes: "If the head is bad you cannot expect the rest of the body to be good."

Wishing the team the best of luck as we pursue the dream one more time!

REALITY CRICKET FAN