When David Hemp finally makes his Bermuda debut next October ? ?if selected? ? it won?t be the first time he has been involved with a national cricket team here.

The Glamorgan player of the year and scorer of more than 12,000 first-class runs has played against Bermuda before, for England South as a teenager, when he took on Clay Smith and Dean Minors in a match in England.

But he also toured here in another sport, playing for Millfield School ? in a soccer match.

Born in Bermuda, Hemp, whose father was an accountant, lived first in Paget before his family moved to Harrington Hundreds and then back to the UK when he was five.

He returned to the Island on vacation ?five or six times? as a schoolboy before coming back here in his own right on football tour.

?I was on a cricket scholarship with Millfield School but I also played for their football team,? said Hemp, who could be the answer to the missing runs at the top of the order for Bermuda?s World Cup campaign and beyond.

?It was a long time ago but I remember we played a couple of schools and also a Bermuda side and a Bermuda A side.

?I remember certain things about the Island, about how beautiful it is and the colour of the water and the friendliness of the people.

?It?s nice to be back here again, even without my family, and I am looking forward to getting stuck in with my work for the cricket board.?

To earn a place in the Bermuda team for Intercontinental and Americas Cup competitions, Hemp has to spend 100 days of cricket-related work here, something he is doing either side of the festive period with just a short break to return and see his wife and young son.

While here, he is working at the Cedar Avenue headquarters on a variety of administrative projects, including an evaluation of the school and club facilities, organising an umpires? course with a top official from overseas, looking at the possibility of an indoor net facility, as well helping draw up job descriptions for a variety of posts that the BCB are looking to codify.

His help in the longer-term will also involve using his extensive contacts abroad to try and find placements for young Bermudian players to give them more exposure.

?I have been in touch with the cricket academy in Wales and also have spoken to a club side I am associated with in Warwickshire,? continued Hemp, who played alongside Brian Lara for the county in which he still has his family home.

?We would be looking to try and get some Bermudians over there to experience a different environment for at least one cricket season and give them a chance to learn new skills and adapt to playing with different players, on different wickets away from home.

There is also some suggestion of bringing out Glamorgan for a pre-season tour in a couple of years time at the earliest.

?I feel with all my years in the game, I have a lot to offer,? continued Hemp, temporarily residing in the apartment that Gus Logie first used when he arrived here.

?It is a two-way street. They are offering me the fairytale of possibly playing in a World Cup at this late stage of my career and I hope I can offer them not only my experience and runs on the field but my experience in terms of helping the other players but also what I can do on the administration side.?

As well as his elegant strokeplay, Hemp will be offering some emergency right-arm medium pace bowling ? ?very medium pace? ? both in the nets and when required to make up overs as well as some some sharp fielding skills.

He can normally be found in the slips in four-day cricket and sprinting around the boundaries in the one-day game ? ?I?m no donkey but I am not going to blow my own trumpet?.

Logie has yet to see Hemp play, although the squad?s latest recruit has met the players and went for a drink with Smith and Minors.

His next cricket will be played on a pre-season tour of India with Glamorgan before another county season and a chance to add to his 22 first-class centuries.

And then from October onwards, it will be playing for his homeland.