The deadline for applications for the national cricket coaching post passed yesterday without a form arriving at the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control office from Allan Douglas.

And while the man who has done the job for most of the 1990s on a part time basis -- and often without much financial reward -- has stepped back, he intends to remain involved in some capacity, helping to drive the sport forward.

The first full-time coach in many years is likely to come from overseas where there were some 12 applications from major cricketing countries like Australia, South Africa, England and the West Indies. Up to last weekend only one application was submitted from Bermuda, and Douglas confirmed it wasn't from him.

"I'm not interested, it's not in my career moves at the moment,'' said Douglas in a frank interview with The Royal Gazette yesterday.

"It's time to go in another direction and let someone else come in and do the job and hopefully do it successfully.'' Douglas has vowed to support whoever does get the job. He is presently getting his administrative feet wet as assistant secretary of the Board, preparing himself eventually for other administrative posts.

"They already have a coaching committee, but to be on a committee that is going to look 10 years down the line, dealing with coaching and development, that's my forte,'' he stated.

Douglas stressed the importance of giving the new coach total support. "I hope that we are in a position to help direct the coach,'' said Douglas. "If it's a foreign coach coming in, there is a lot about Bermuda they don't know, the school system, the players, our history, the obstacles that the players face and the social structure in Bermuda. All those things are very critical to any coach coming in and this is where I believe I can be used, to help channel any new person coming in.

"I will certainly always work with any person coming here to develop the sport because I'm for the sport.'' Added Douglas: "It's certainly not where the coach is coming from that is going to make the difference. The difference comes from the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control, when we put our foot down and say `this is where we are going for the next 10 years and this is how we are going to get there.'' Douglas saw similarities in the BCBC and BFA in regards to the role of former technical director Clyde Best.

"This job came up right after the Clyde Best thing and I'm sure people were thinking `do I go through the same thing that Clyde Best just went through?'.

"Just listening to some of the remarks I got flashbacks about when we came back from Malaysia (ICC Tournament) and all the stuff that went down. I took stock and asked `Allan Douglas, do I want to go through all of that?'.

"It's time we be honest with ourselves, look at what we have to work with, the whole gamut, money right down to player availability and the drug problem and determine where we are going to go. A lot of times we are blind in thinking that a great coach is going to give you great results, but that's not necessarily the case.'' Continued on page 27 Douglas confident in James Continued from page 25 Having worked under two administrations, Douglas is confident the Board is moving in the right direction under president El James. "I know the board under El (James) has a lot of ideas so we have to say to the coach coming in `this is what we have set up, this is what ICC is doing for us, this is what Bermuda is doing for us, now how are you going to take us to the next level?','' he stressed.

"I believe we can qualify for the next World Cup, I believe it in the bottom of my heart, but are we working diligently in the right areas to make us qualify? We should get some imput from the players because we at the board don't have all the answers.'' Douglas admits to being surprised that Wendell Smith, the only other local along with himself to hold the full coaching badge, was not invited to serve on the coaching committee.

"Wendell should have been on any coaching committee, and I know saying that is going to raise some eyebrows,'' said Douglas. "A person of his calibre should be active. He's a principle and a fully qualified coach and it's time we start to pool the right resources.''