Bailey?s Bay seam bowler Clarkie Trott has launched a scathing attack on national cricket coach Mark Harper and the Bermuda Cricket Board?s selection procedures for the upcoming Americas Championship.

Yesterday he accused the national coach of lack of communication and man-management skills and labelled selection procedures since last year as ?inconsistent and a joke from start to finish?.

The veteran was informed on Wednesday night by newly-appointed Chairman of Selectors Arnold Manders that his services would not be required ? having been originally selected in a 15-man squad announced this past Tuesday night.

The selectors? intention was to trim the list down to 14 once a number of ?injury concerns? were assessed, and it was Trott who lost his place at the final selection meeting.

Trott acknowledged that by stepping forward he would be open to accusations that he is bitterly lashing out in print simply because of his exclusion, but he insisted that this was not the case.

In fact, he said he would have accepted the decision of the selectors in good grace ? had the BCB announced the squad by the June 4 deadline set by the International Cricket Council, which he claims would have given him enough time to cancel the work leave that he applied for back in January.

Instead, he has now been forced to take that leave.

The BCB missed the June 4 deadline by four days, and have since been forced to write formal letters on numerous occasions to the world governing body requesting alterations be made to the ?final? list.

Board treasurer Neil Speight admitted in yesterday?s newspaper that the selection process had been ?flawed? throughout the campaign and that steps were being taken to remedy the situation.

?They have taken me and a few others for a complete ride because of their lack of organisation,? Trott said.

?They have shown no sensitivity towards the players and other commitments we have in our lives. The only reason I stayed involved in the sport this summer is because I was involved in the national team programme and I wanted to give my all to my country. But I, along with others, have been slapped in the face.?

?I applied for leave in January after I requested the dates from the BCB,? he continued.

?I was organised and focused on the job at hand well in advance. If they had let me know I was not going to be picked when they were supposed to I could have cancelled my leave and everything would have been sorted. Of course, I would have been disappointed but I would have had nobody to blame but myself for not doing enough to impress the selectors. As it is I have been strung along for months and then been hung out to dry at the very last minute.?

Trott also had numerous negative remarks to make about coach Harper, describing his man-management skills as ?non-existent.?

?He is a very poor communicator and I am not the only person involved with the national squad who believes that it is this which has been responsible for most of the problems, including the issue with (Jason) Anderson.?

He was also keen to dispute the national coach?s claim in yesterday?s that it had always been made clear to the players that the selectors reserved the right to recall to the national squad those axed in the winter, once the season got underway.

?The Board came out from the beginning insisting that those who did not turn up to training on a regular basis would be axed from the squad ? period,? he said.

?Everything they have done up until now has gone against this. Squad training has been like a revolving door with players who were axed suddenly invited back to train again. Nobody knows what the hell is going on. Why say these things to the players and the press if you are not going to live up to them?

?I asked for all the official dates in January. The squad should have been announced on June 4. But it is obvious to a lot of people that the Board was not adhering to these deadlines and was not fulfilling its side of the bargain.?

The BCB released a statement last night confirming that Trott had resigned from the national squad but steered clear of a response to the accusations levelled against it, arguing that they had already conceded to the media that the selection process was not as it should have been.