By Jonathan Kent Bermuda's four-man national tennis team are gearing up for another attempt to gain promotion in the Davis Cup next week -- but like last year they will be unable to field all of their best players.

The team will fly off on Saturday to Honduras, where they will aim to win a place in American Zone Group III.

To get out of Group IV, they must finish in the top two in the seven-nation round-robin tournament which will start next Monday.

Last year in Trinidad, Bermuda won their first two ties, but with enormous pressure piled on the top two singles players Ricky Mallory and Michael Way, injuries and fatigue took their toll as the Island lost their last four ties to finish fifth out of seven.

The absence of Way and Davis Cup veteran Donald Evans means that once again much will be asked of the two singles specialists, Mallory and James Collieson, with youngster Jensen Bascome and veteran Dean Mello completing the team.

Team captain Steve Bean has named Collieson as his number one player for next week, Mallory as number two, Bascome at three and Mello at four. Each tie will comprise two singles matches and one doubles.

"We will be trying to use James and Ricky as much as we can,'' said Allan Simmons, honorary vice-president of the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association.

"Each country has to play six games in seven days and injuries and fatigue will come into it. The weather makes a difference too -- it will be very warm down there. We'll just have to see how it goes.'' But Simmons felt that Bascome would be a good singles support player, after his experience of playing collegiate tennis for Temple University this year and his Davis Cup baptism last year.

No add scoring -- next point wins after deuce -- will be used, but a proposal to use an oversized ball has been rejected by Honduras.

The International Tennis Federation, the sport's world governing body, last year introduced a rule change which allows balls bigger by up to eight percent to be used.

The idea stemmed from a desire to slow down the men's game on hard and fast surfaces, as recent years have seen ever-faster serving and ever-shorter rallies producing a more boring spectacle.

The bigger ball encounters more air resistance and so travels more slowly.

Tests have shown it would cut the speed of a 120 mph serve by 10 percent.

"The ITF often use lower-level Davis Cup matches to experiment with new ideas,'' said Simmons. "It was up to Honduras whether to use the bigger balls and they decided we would use regular balls.'' Mello, who will be used as a doubles specialist, now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and will fly from there to Honduras.

Also flying from the US to join the team are Collieson, who is this week playing for his college, the University of North Carolina, in a major tournament at Hilton Head, and Bascome, who will fly in from Philadelphia.

Travelling with the team will be skipper Bean, BLTA president David Lambert and guest Earl Leader, a professional at the Southampton Princess.

The match schedule has not yet been announced, but the opposition for Bermuda will come from Honduras, Antigua, St.Lucia, the US Virgin Islands, Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States.