Bermuda head coach David Moore is delighted by the response to the All-Star matches and hopes all concerned appreciate how big an opportunity they can be for players and the country as a whole.

Today's 50-over game between Hunt XI and Symonds XI is the first of six games taking place over the course of the next two weeks, with another 50-over game between Simmons XI and Parfitt XI to follow tomorrow.

If all goes well, the matches could grow into a more formalised competition next season, exposing the Island's better players to a higher standard of cricket on a regular basis. In that event, Moore would like to see two-day cricket introduced for the elite players.

"The elite players on the Island need to to be exposed to all those forms of cricket," said Moore. "We have opportunities to qualify now for the world stage in both 50-over and T20 cricket, but to learn how to play the game, bowlers need to bowl more than 10 overs a game, and batsmen need to have the opportunity to bat for longer than 50 overs in a game.

"You really want batsmen to bat for 90 overs in a day, and to compile 180-200 runs, that's what the better batsmen do. And they can then take those skills and use them in the shorter forms of the game. But you need to know how to compile scores, and to build innings and to be able to bowl for durations, and hit a length, and bore people out.

"I think that for us to progress in the world of cricket we must have two-day cricket."

In the short term though the games will allow Moore to see just how good the Island's players really are in a more competitive environment on a regular-sized cricket ground.

For all the players concerned there is the opportunity to push for a place in the national squad.

"I hope they rise to the challenge," said Moore. "It's going to be competitive, and the guys understand that there are opportunities to break into the national team.

"It probably will take them time to get used to playing on a bigger ground, but that's one of the key reasons for playing these fixtures up at the National Stadium. But these guys have to understand that one of the aims (of the matches) is for them to learn how to play cricket on the bigger grounds and those guys that can impress in that situation have a better chance of breaking into the team."

As well as teaching the players a better understanding of the game, the All-Star matches, and any elite league that might follow, have one main purpose and that's to make the national team as strong as possible.

"One of the important things is to get some of these Under-19s playing with some of these seasoned players so they can learn more about the game, and be exposed to that higher standard of competition," said Moore.

"I think that's one of the very, very important things that these younger boys need to do, is learn quickly about how to play cricket.

"Every game that we play in Bermuda is looking to benefit the national team on the international stage. Every other cricket system in the world, at the elite level, there's only one purpose, and that's to find the best players to play for their country.

"The clubs want to win, obviously, but everyone knows that the whole idea is to get those guys in, and through those systems as quickly as possible, so that they get the best players to play for England, or South Africa, or Australia.

"It's pretty straight forward."