George's coach Wendell Smith the ultimate compliment by copying some of the things he learned at St. George's in trying to turn Southampton Rangers into serious title contenders.

Wade, St. George's born and bred, but now Southampton transplanted, is in a second stint as player-coach of Rangers, hoping to return the club to their glory days of the 1970s when they were the champions in local cricket.

Their last taste of major success came in 1980 when they won five trophies and held two more -- the Schaefer Shield and Premier Cup -- which were not played for in 1980 when Rangers completed the season without a loss.

The club has already begun their climb back by winning the Western Counties title, but the ultimate challenge is still ahead of them...the league title.

"I would like to bring it back. I feel the potential is there, we just have to combine and work together,'' said Wade.

"I always stress to them that when I was at St. Geroge's how hard we really trained and how we wanted to succeed. We set goals and aimed high for those goals. But in order to achieve those goals you have to train hard and work hard for each other.

"I'm bringing that up here to Rangers to see if it will work. I told them that over the years St. George's have been very, very successful and the reason why is because they worked hard.'' Wade is pleased with the attitude of his players so far, saying an average of 13 to 15 turn out for each training session.

And even though Wade's troublesome knee, which kept him sidelined for most of last season after a promising start, is feeling "100 per cent better'' after further treatment abroad, the veteran former Bermuda all-rounder is not looking to play regularly this season.

"They found some scar tissue, cleaned it out and up to today it's feeling great, it's come around 100 per cent,'' said a relieved Wade.

"But I'm not really looking to play, I'm putting a lot of emphasis on coaching and I have a nice crop of players.

"Who knows, later in the season I may be pushed to play. I wouldn't rule it out, and I do train with them and I might get that itch.'' The coach feels with the likes of captain Olin Jones (his brother-in-law), vice captain Janeiro Tucker, Keith Wainwright and Kwame Tucker there is plenty to build the team around. Youngsters like former Bermuda youth players Quinton Sherlock Jr and Ian Armstrong will also have a part to play this season, though Sherlock may be returning to school abroad in June so could miss most of the season.

Without giving too much away, Wade is also excited about a Sri Lankan who has been training with the team. He calls him a `secret weapon'.

"He's been living here for a while and has been out training and just needs to get accustomed to the turf wickets,'' said Wade. "He could be something to reckon with.'' Wade thinks the team may have limited their aspirations to just the counties and champion of champions and as a result have been labelled a county team.

"The last time I was up there as soon as county comes around everybody is out training,'' Wade recalled of his first stint five years ago.

"But I'm trying to stress to them, `let's aim for the league'.'' He was reminded of 1985 when St. George's beat a powerful Warwick team at the small Southampton Oval despite defending only 148 runs with some outstanding fielding. St. George's knocked Warwick down for 126 and would have have won the league that year but no other team managed to beat Warwick.

"That's what I'm doing with the team up here, a lot of fielding drills,'' Wade disclosed.

"In limited overs you can score 120, 130, but if your fielding is up to par, cutting off boundaries and saving twos, you can cut the runs out on the field.

Wade, a former St. George's Cup Match captain, admits it was easy for him to rejoin Rangers as travelling from Southampton to St. George's to train was taking a toll.

Now he is hoping the move bears fruit, though he admits it could be a wide open league with any one of about six teams wining the championship.

"You can't point to one team to run away with the league or cup games,'' Wade stressed.

"There are five or six good teams that will be challenging down to the wire -- Bailey's Bay, St. David's, St. George's, Western Stars, Police, Willow Cuts...

"People are going around saying, `we don't have to worry about Rangers, they're just a county team'. I don't say much, we'll do our talking on the pitch.

"Everybody who is participating in the league, their main goal should be to win the league. It shows you're the best team on the Island.''