With the prospects of a summer tour to Bermuda by a group former West Indies Test stars now appearing remote, the organising Testimonial Committee will decide their next move at a special meeting arranged for today.

Bermuda Cricket Board of Control virtually canned the proposed visit by the Caribbean greats, including Sir Viv Richards, Courtney Walsh, Desmond Haynes, Joel Garner, Gordon Greenidge, Richie Richardson and others, when they refused to sanction the tour following opposition from the two Cup Match clubs.

St. George's and Somerset had complained that the proposed date for the tour would clash with the final Cup Match trials.

Now Testimonial Committee chairman Custerfield Crockwell has hinted that he may not be able to come up with alternative plans that would enable them to stage some sort of game on Sunday, July 28.

"It's our first meeting since all of this came up. I don't know what decisions, if any, we will or can come up with but we will just have to wait and see,'' said Crockwell.

Crockwell claimed that many cricket followers were still stunned by the Board's decision, expressing hope that something could still be done to have at least one game played on Sunday, July 28, featuring the former players.

"However, to be honest I don't know what we can do about a one-day game because the Board has refused to sanction their visit and we haven't had the time to discuss anything else," he said.

"It's set us back so much with the plans that we had and who is to say that these players will be available after being advised that the tour is officially off. It just may not be feasible for any of them to come here at this stage, they could have made immediate plans to do something else after learning of our Board's refusal."

Crockwell said he still believed it was a great shame that so many local followers of the game would be deprived of a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see so many greats" assembled at one time.

Additionally, he said, younger players would be deprived an opportunity of attending training sessions that were planned to be supervised by the visiting stars.

"I've been stopped and involved in discussions with the public every day since this decision by the Board was announced," added Crockwell. "One guy told me as recently as this morning that he had never seen Viv Richards play. He said that he couldn't afford to go to a Test in the West Indies and consequently was looking forward to Richards visit to Bermuda with the rest of the big name players.

"Our committee worked hard to prepare for the tour, we worked hard to stage many events for the players to be involved in outside of the actual games and now we have been left high and dry by a decision that has taken us by surprise and set us back."

Crockwell reminded that it was not the Testimonial Committee who should be criticised for the cancellation of the tour, revealing that word had been received from a friend in Barbados that such was the case.

"Apparently it was broadcast on their radio that we had pulled out, but I assured the person that it wasn't our fault. I told him just like I would like everybody here to know that we had everything in place, we had planned for one of the biggest cricketing events in decades to take place on our tiny island and were left stranded," he said.

"It's just unfortunate when some people with their club-only thinking mentality can affect something that is so positive to our entire community in more than just a sporting way, so what can I say."