He's helped coach some of the best batsmen in the world at the widely renowned Queen's Park Oval Test Ground in Trinidad and Tobago.

Brian Lara, Steve Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar, Gus Logie . . . 62-year-old Noel Bovill has seen them all.

A cricket fanatic to the core, Bovill proudly manages the indoor cricket facility at the famous Queen's Park grounds.

Bovill is himself a former cricketer, having played on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Trinidadian, a former Southampton Rangers all-rounder, has now returned to the Island to personally invite and encourage local clubs to tour his immaculate grounds in the Caribbean.

"My responsibility is to get good teams for local (Bermuda) teams to play against and also get a game if things work out right in the Test arena at Queen's park Cricket Club grounds," he explained. "Maybe two days after the Test Match (England versus West Indies 2004). So I am looking forward to what I would say would be good co-operation from the Bermudian teams."

Bovill plays a major role at Queen's Park Oval.

"I am solely responsible for the maintenance and discipline of the indoor cricket nets at the Queen's Park Oval where most of the Test teams play their cricket in the Caribbean," he explained.

"For instance, if any one of the touring teams come to the Oval, I have to make sure that the practice facilities are available on time. If it's raining we can move to indoor, but, like the Australians, most of the Test players like to practice outdoors . . . it's the nearest to out in the middle. So we make sure that we have good wickets prepared for practice."

Bovill said Test players are very particular when it comes to practising on wickets.

"They love good practice wickets," he added. "And whenever we don't do it right, our club gets a knocking.

"Brian Lara himself, who is one of the best batsman in the world, always makes sure that facilities for practice must be just, or even better, than out in the middle. So our club has a tremendously good record and my manager and co-ordinator (Roger Henderson) has been getting good recommendations."

Bovill said he has been "blessed" over the years to have witnessed some of the best international cricketers in the practice nets.

"A couple of batsmen who I have been privileged to have given a tip or two to are Phil Simmons, Gus Logie - the present coach (of the West Indies) who spent a lot of time under my hands when he was a player - and Brian Lara to a lesser extent.

"You can't do much with Lara because he is a natural . . . he can get up any time in the morning and get a century. But we have had a few good conversations over the years.

"I knew him as boy and I've lived to see him come on strong and he is now more or less a mature player."

Bovill is especially proud of his Test ground.

"We can hold a capacity crowd of over 35,000 at present in our arena and visiting teams who come to our stadium say that it is one of the better grounds that they have played on," he said. "We have what we call the northern range where when you go into bat the hills (in the background) are facing you."

Bovill said work has already begun at Queen's Park Oval for the 2007 World Cup Finals which will be spread around the Caribbean.

"We firmly believe that we are one of the islands which can either host the opening ceremony or the final. So we are now in the early stages of building a new stand which will hold a capacity crowd of around 13,000 to 14,000 people in one stand alone," he said. "So we are shaping up very well and things are coming along nicely."

Any clubs interested in touring the Caribbean next year can reach Bovill at 238-9809.