Developing local cricketers into full-time professionals or even semi-professionals could be the route to follow in order to help raise the overall standard of the game in Bermuda.

This according to Bermuda Cricket Board of Control (BCBC) president, Reggie Pearman, who only last week revealed how the reluctance of players to turn up for national team training was giving him a "huge headache".

Yesterday the long-serving board executive suggested it was time to explore other avenues to prevent players from losing interest at the national level.

Both Bermuda's senior national and under-19 squads will see action later this summer during ICC World Cup preliminary qualifying competitions.

Pearman said he was urging all of the Island's leading players to make a sacrifice to national team duty - if not for their country "for the love of the game" itself.

"We are cognisant of the fact that somewhere along the line we may have to revisit how things are done nowadays - especially in the this economic climate we are now living in," said Pearman.

"Holland have basically a lot of the same problems that we have. Holland, Canada and Bermuda - any team that's in the exact situation of not having professional players.

"It's a route that somewhere along the line Bermuda may have to go if we want to have quality players - pro or semi-pro."

The former Somerset Cricket Club chief also expressed a desire to see the Island's elite cricketers adopt a more "dedicated" approach at the national level - the likes of which were presently being demonstrated by Holland's World Cup squad competing in South Africa.

"These guys (Holland) are volunteering their services to the sport that they love. Some of these players have given up their jobs for the six-week or eight-week period to play in this prestigious tournament. The dedication of these part-time players, which is basically what we are in Bermuda, is there for all to see. And I would certainly like to see some of that dedication here," added Pearman.

The BCBC president said he also wanted to see cricket - one of the Island's two national sports - promoted more within local schools.

"We need more cricket in the schools because if Government has identified cricket as a national sport, naturally they need to promote it. And that's what the ministries of sport and education and we in the Board (BCBC) are trying to accomplish - getting the sport back into the schools.

"The Board (BCBC) provides opportunities for players to extend their knowledge and playing conditions worldwide. That's the Board's commitment . . . through the ICC and through the developing countries. The avenue is open for them and I think that everyone has to make a sacrifice for the love of the game itself."

Meanwhile, Pearman applauded BCBC secretary Charlotte Simons for acting swiftly this week in dispelling claims that she and former top cricketer Colin Blades, also a Board member, carried a strong influence in national team matters.

"I think that the answers have already been made by Simons (Charlotte). She gave a statement on that article the following day and the Board is cognisant of the fact that we just have to work our way through it," Pearman replied in response to last Friday's Royal Gazette article in which a leading local cricket official publicly slammed the Board for the manner in which it conducted national team selection.

"If there are some people out there who think that they know better than us, there's an opportunity for them to come and be part and parcel of it and see what we are faced with. And I must commend Simons for her response. She was very forthright and honest in what she had to say."