Top local cricket coach Wendell Smith thinks Arnold Manders would be a good choice to replace David Moore as the new Bermuda coach, but says the mindset of national team players must change if the team are to progress.Manders has been named as interim coach for the national squad once Moore’s contract expires in early March and will be in charge of the team for the ICC Division Three Tournament next April. The Bermuda Cricket Board have not stated whether they will look overseas again for a new coach or whether they will seek a local coach.But Smith, who ‘held the fort’ as national coach for a couple of months before Gus Logie arrived on the Island in 2005, would like to see the type of commitment from the current squad members that he enjoyed with the 2005 squad in Ireland that went on to qualify for the 2007 World Cup.“I don’t think the coach is the issue, mainly it’s to do more with the mindset of today’s players,” said Smith, who captained and coached St. George’s to numerous titles in the 1980s and ‘90s and then led St. David’s to the league title in his first season as coach in 2011.“Even, I’m sure, Gus had a few problems with guys not being committed, that’s why we’ve seen so many different players representing Bermuda. The coaches have tried to be strict and adhere to a policy that the people who train, play, which means sometimes some fringe players going on tour to represent Bermuda. It’s a pity because talent-wise if we did have our very best players playing and training regular I’m sure we would be competitive with most of the Associate countries . . . countries like Ireland, Holland, Scotland.“Talent-wise we have players that are capable but I guess the guys don’t feel that they need to train this soon before a tournament. I’m trying to understand it from their perspective that the season just ended and they wanted a bit of a break and might be a big weary because they are not full time cricketers.”Attendance at training had been disappointing this month but numbers have reportedly picked up in the last week with about 21 turning out to a session on Wednesday night.“In Logie’s case he took us to the World Cup and under him Bermuda’s results were quite favourable,” Smith recalled. “We beat UAE and the United States to get to the World Cup and we actually won the Americas Cup under Logie. But, of course, you are talking about a different group of players Dean Minors, Albert Steede, Clay (Smith), Sluggo (Dwayne Leverock) and some of those guys have been difficult to replace. People like Albert, Dean and Clay were coming to the end of their careers and they were special players.”Janeiro Tucker, who took over as captain after Clay Smith got injured in Ireland, is a survivor of the 2005 team along with Lionel Cann, OJ Pitcher and Delyone Borden. Malachi Jones burst onto the international scene at the World Cup in the Caribbean two years later with a wicket with his first delivery against India.“I really rate Malachi Jones highly, but he is one of the guys playing football, Dion Stovell is another one, very talented, who is playing football,” said Smith. “These are some of our very top players and from a coaching perspective it is probably frustrating knowing that you have these guys who are really talented but choose to do something else. Another really talented player to me is Delyone Borden who is a good all-rounder and probably feels ‘I’ve done it already’.“I try to look at things from the players’ perspective and when some people have been to the top already they may feel ‘I’ve done it already and it is a lot of work’ and are they ready to put in that type of work again. When we went to Ireland I remember Irving Romaine shed about 40 pounds and you could look at him and see that he was ready for that tournament, he was super-fit.“But the thing is the whole team collectively put in that kind of work, you didn’t have four or five putting in the work and the others taking it easy. That was the beauty of the 2005-2006 team, guys who had a commitment to a goal.”Smith estimated that the upcoming tournament would be the biggest tournament hosted locally since the 1985 International Youth Tournament which Bermuda hosted and won under Darrin Lewis’ captaincy, beating an England North team containing future England captain Mike Atherden in the final at Somerset.“That team worked hard, Allan Douglas and I coached them, and they put in a lot of hard work,” Smith said. “The Bermudian public are very knowledgeable cricket people and to me you should want to take some pride in performing before your friends and family.“I did congratulate Arnold the other day and he beamed at me and told me he had a good turn-out to his session the other day, 15 or 20 guys. Arnold is a very good selection in that he knows the game and played top cricket all around the world. The truth of the matter is Bermudians tend to listen to foreign coaches more, they realise some of these guys played Test cricket. A Bermudian can say the exact same thing as a foreigner but the players would listen more to a foreigner.” – The BCB has not made a decision on a national coach once Manders’ interim period in charge ends on May 6, stating recently: “The Executive will consider over the coming months, in conjunction with its long-term and annual plans, the appropriate coaching structure for its programmes post this interim appointment.”