Former Somerset Cup Match player Robert Hinds is visiting Bermuda, catching up with old friends ... and helping the champions prepare for their cup defence next week.Hinds, who played for Somerset nine times between 1977 and ‘87 and took 38 wickets from 275 overs at an average of 20.66, has been living in South Florida since leaving Bermuda in 1991. Social media and the internet has enabled him to keep in touch with the goings-on in Bermuda and he has returned occasionally to visit his daughter.His current visit enabled him to take in the first round of the Eastern Counties last weekend at St David’s between Bailey’s Bay and Cleveland and now he is looking forward to seeing his first Cup Match since 2008. This week he turned out at Somerset to assist in a pre-Cup Match training session, lending his experience to the youngsters.“I’m looking forward to seeing these young guys and helping those who want help and advising if I see a fault,” said Hinds. “I’m hoping to be with them throughout the game and then discharge myself after that. I’m here to look at the batsmen and see how they approach the bowling and the bowlers how they approach the batting. I’m just here to pass on my knowledge to those who want it.“I’m still in touch with the players who as youngsters treated me as a mentor, people like Grant Smith, Allan Douglas, Peter Philpott and those guys from Cleveland,” said Hinds. “That was the last club team I played for before I left and so it was a pleasure to come in and be a part of them for a day.”It was a match, he admits, Cleveland should have won after being well placed at one stage in their chase of the Bay total of 236. “It was down to inexperience, but you can’t take it away from (Stephen) Outerbridge, the captain and the vice captain (Rodney Trott), they both played a good innings to set up the Bailey’s Bay victory and that’s what it’s all about,” said the Barbados-born former Bermuda international who is still playing a bit of cricket in Florida at the age of 63.“I still play and am still active, but not to the extent that I used to be,” said Hinds who lives between Miami and Fort Lauderdale. “When teams (from Bermuda) come down here, as long as I have the time from school I go down to Fort Lauderdale and support them,” said Hinds who is a physical education teacher.“Since I left in 1991 I came back in 2005 on a cruise and then back again in 2008 specifically to see Cup Match because I left the next day,” said Hinds. “I don’t see much hope for St George’s this year, from what I can see. I remember the Bermuda team that came down to Florida earlier this year, most of them are Somerset players.”Hinds weighed in on the discussion in local circles over the decision to return cricket to one league this season. “The South Florida league has only got about six Premier Division teams but having said that they play against each other twice a year so the better teams are playing among themselves,” Hinds stated.“I still maintain that for any cricketer to improve he has to play against the best quality of cricket available to him and that includes the best players. There should be no lull and no one-sided games and if you sort the cricket out properly in both leagues there will be competitive cricket every Sunday.”Hinds said he was surprised at the small crowds at Southampton Oval for the match between Rangers and Somerset Bridge on Sunday and also for the match at Somerset between the two Cup Match clubs. The passion that was evident during his playing days has diminished somewhat.“You can see the drop-off in the interest in cricket, which is sad,” he stated. “Same thing in South Florida where people can’t get the time off to play. Sometimes they don’t even make the effort to turn up, they tell you they are going to come and they don’t turn up and that’s frustrating.“Every cricketing country is going through its lull domestically, look at the West Indies and look at Australia now. But look at India now, they are at the top and respected. It’s cyclical. I spent 50 of my 63 years in cricket, I was coached in school by Everton Weeks, Seymour Nurse and Charlie Griffiths.“Cricket should be set up in a way where the youngsters around 15 years old can get in and learn from the guys who are 35, 40 who can still move around but can also point them in the right direction. That is most important. These young guys may have ability but they still need direction. You saw it at the (Eastern) County game where Outerbridge and Trotty held everything together for Bailey Bay, but you saw the inexperienced batting with Cleveland.”Hinds enthusiasm as a medium pace bowler earned him the nickname “Jumping Jack” from a former Royal Gazette Sports reporter Joe Brown who noticed his antics on the cricket field.“Somerset were playing Rangers at Rangers and I was bowling medium pace and had a lot of energy and when I appealed I used to jump in the air. Joe Brown made it his business to go down to ground level and when I appealed Joe got the picture of me about six feet in the air,” Hinds recalled.“He had the picture in the Tuesday paper and I remember going to work and a guy at the police station said ‘hey Jumping Jack,’ and he showed me the paper with the picture and the nickname Jumping Jack. Joe Brown created a lot of nicknames, he called Dandy Town the Hornets. He’s American and every American team has a nickname.”Added Hinds: ”People won’t believe this but in nine years playing Cup Match I enjoyed watching people enjoying themselves. I like to see people smiling and enjoying themselves. When it comes to Cup Match the Island is divided in half, there’s no Bailey’s Bay or PHC, it’s Somerset and St George’s.“Where else in the world do you get a two-day holiday to celebrate black heritage?”Hinds averaged four wickets every Cup Match, and played in Randy Horton’s cup winning team in 1979. The next year he was the bowler who Charlie Marshall dispatched for a six off the last ball of the match to become the first colt to score a century in the Classic.“Charlie was on 94 and needed six runs off the last ball and I needed his wicket,” said Hinds. “I ran in and bowled the ball short of a length middle and leg and Charlie swung and connected. I had no intention of giving him six runs, he had to fight for it. I got cussed out that day by everybody, even my captain cussed me out.”It was a day Marshall, now a St George’s selector, won’t ever forget. “I was batting with Ken Pitcher and started the over needing 10 runs,” he remembers.“It came down to the fifth ball and Ken was on strike and I needed to get down to the other end. The ball went to the wicketkeeper and I just ran. To encourage him to bowl me down centre and leg I decided to bat outside off stump. Centre and leg was where my strength was.“From talking to (Somerset captain) Randy Horton and some other guys, they said there was no way I would have gotten that six off the last ball if they were bowling.”