excitement over Bermuda Cricket Board of Control's approach towards further developing the sport.

While stopping short of saying that it should have happened years ago under the previous regime, Douglas notes that youth policies now in place have "everybody excited''.

And he strongly feels that last Saturday's clinic for coaches and managers of the Shell/BF&M Youth Leagues at Garrison Field, will prove to be of a huge benefit to the overall youth programme which kicks off shortly.

"All of us are excited about what's occurring in our cricket. Whenever we can do something for the youth, particularly after we have coached the seniors for a long time, it gives you a high. Now I can see a process. I can see a ladder type of situation, where things are put into place so that players can come through the system in stages,'' said Douglas.

While the weekend clinic, supervised by Douglas and Wendell Smith, was specifically designed for coaches and managers, there were a number of enthusiastic youth players who showed up to assist -- and much use was made of their presence.

Even chairman of the Board's Youth Development Committee, Randy Horton, was amazed by the overall support.

"We are happy to get things running,'' he said. "This clinic has been arranged because we want to make sure that they have the right coaching techniques to be able to impart on the players when the leagues get underway.'' Douglas, whose official position has not been confirmed under the new administration, said he considered it a privilege to be finally able to get all the coaches together.

"One of the major things I am most pleased with is to see that time has been found for us to coach the coaches. That's been one of my desires and one of Wendell's dreams for a long time.

"It now means that the coaches will be able to coach the youths and give some sort of continuity to the programme, something that will benefit us throughout the whole Island.

"Once there is this continuity, when they come through to the Under-19 and senior level it won't be as difficult for the players to cope with what lies ahead of them.'' What also excites Douglas is that coaches are now able to look ahead and envision the calibre of cricketers that will be produced.

But he hoped that the public would be patient as policies were enforced and players were allowed to progress at their own pace. "Things are being done not just for the short term, but for long term in order to allow the process to work. With the Shell/BF&M tournament in place I think people will have to be willing to let us work for a few years and make sure that the programme gets a sound start, that it becomes established and then whoever comes behind us will have something established to carry on with.'' Horton added: "The entire programme is exciting, everybody I speak with is excited and a number of people have indicated that they will help whenever they can.'' The chairman said that he could have directed his energy into other areas of sport but chose cricket because he saw a desperate need for steps to be taken to save the sport from any further decline.

"I saw a need for this programme in particular to get underway successfully and El James asked me if I would assist, and naturally I didn't hesitate to accept. I love young people, I love the sport and I do understand very clearly the need for youth development.

"It amazes me how eight years got by without a decent youth programme being run in the Island. It's simply mind boggling to think that this was allowed to occur.''