If Namibia coach Johan Rudolph has his way, then his team will quickly go from being an amateur side to a fully professional one.

Rudolph is trying to convince his cricket board to centrally contract 12 or 13 of his players, a move he believes is essential for the country to climb up the Associate ladder.

For now the coach has to deal with much the same frustrations as many other nations at this level, players who can't always commit, a domestic competition that isn't strong enough and a jump in class that on occasion leaves his players floundering.

The similarities between Namibia and Bermuda, whose Intercontinental Shield match began this morning, are striking.

"Hopefully we can go the route where we can get 12 or 13 centrally contracted players," said Rudolph.

"I think it is the only way to go forward because sometimes it is really a struggle to get a side together.

"With all respect with guys studying in South Africa, some of them working, we chop and change the team set-up all the time. Not everyone can attend the practice sessions, but that's Namibia, and in a few other countries also, where they have an amateur side, and those type of problems.

"Hopefully we can get to a situation where we have contracted players, the board, together with CEO Lawrie Peters, are looking at the budget and seeing how we can maybe cut down on things.

"I think we can go with 12-13 guys full time."

For Rudolph, it's not just about having a squad of players who are always available – it's about the ethos surrounding the team and the approach to the game in his country.

"Sometimes you fall into an amateur frame of mind also," he said. "The current position is that there is no really big pressure on players in the team, and another area that we need to address is the strength of our club cricket.

"I personally feel that the gap between our club cricket and first class cricket is tremendous, it's too big."

Namibia have already tried to take steps to improve the standard of the game in the country. Like many others they are concentrating on schools and getting the players into good habits while they're young.

And after a full season already in Namibia, several of the younger players are heading to England to play league cricket there this summer.

"We have a high performance programme in place in the schools, the key thing now is the coaching part of it, to educate coaches, and take that to club cricket," said Rudolph. "If we can strengthen club cricket, I think the gap will close, especially in terms of the standard at first class level."