The Bermuda Cricket Board has branded Herbie Bascome’s claims of discrimination as “disgusting” and “slanderous”.

Bascome, who was one of the candidates for the national team head coach’s job, claimed in a television interview that he had been “set up to fail by the three-man selection committee”.

The former St George’s Cup Match player said he was told to arrive between 1.45pm and 2pm for his practical assessment at Flatts Field on Saturday, November 7.

Bascome claims he arrived at 1.55pm, only to discover that the players had been sent home and he would not be allowed to conduct his session, which he said was to run from 2pm to 3pm.

“Why wasn’t I given the opportunity to do my session?” said Bascome, who went on to claim that he was being discriminated against by the BCB.

“I would like to see a coach that has the passion like me, and regardless of what he looks like, or how he is as person, or where he is situated in society, to still get the opportunity,” he said.

The claims have angered the Board, who said that not only did Bascome turn up after 2pm, and not before as he claimed, but it was also his second chance after he was an hour late to his first assessment.

“I, and my fellow executives at the BCB, are greatly upset at the false and deceptive claims by Mr Bascome about the hiring process,” Lloyd Fray, the BCB president, said.

“The BCB and its members pride itself on its integrity and to be subjected to false claims of discrimination is a grave matter.

“The members of the selection panel are highly qualified in both the human resources and cricket coaching fields, and they were highly commended by the executive on their thorough and transparent process.

“I am disgusted by Mr Bascome’s claims of discrimination, which are completely false and are prima facie slanderous to the Board and the executive officers.”

In a rare move, the BCB has provided a timeline of Bascome’s application, along with e-mail evidence, which shows the lengths they went to for the St George’s man.

Among the issues it encountered with Bascome were a failure to provide a written submission of his coaching philosophy, a failure to submit a training plan, and a repeated failure to respond to e-mails, phone calls, or text messages from the Board and selection panel.

According to the BCB, Bascome was first interviewed on October 12, and was contacted via e-mail on October 16 telling him that his practical assessment would be on October 31.

Bascome was asked to respond, and did not do so. A member of the selection panel then called Bascome, but got no answer, and the Board finally resorted to getting a message to him via one of his sons.

On October 21 Bascome was told his practical assessment would take place at 9am on the October 31, and that he must submit a training plan by October 28.

According to the Board, the training plan was never submitted, and Bascome arrived at Flatts Field for his first practical assessment at 10am. The players had been sent home by the panel at 9.30am.

The panel opted to give Bascome a second chance, which he thanked them for in an e-mail, while also apologising for “his mistake of his misunderstanding and negligence in not submitting his reports on time”.

Bascome’s second assessment was scheduled for 2pm on Saturday, November 7, and he was advised not to arrive any earlier than 1.45pm.

“At 2pm Mr Bascome had not arrived for his session so the panel members dismissed the players,” a BCB spokesman said. “At 2.07pm Mr Bascome arrived and was told that he would not be permitted to conduct his session as he was late.”

The Board claim that on being told this Bascome became “very belligerent and insulting to the panel members and the process”.

Fray said the Board was disappointed that there had been no “attempt to contact the BCB to verify these outrageous allegations”.

Clay Smith was named as the new national team head coach last week, replacing Arnold Manders as the man tasked with lifting the senior team out of Division Four of the World Cricket League

Lorenzo Tucker, the team’s performance analyst, was appointed the assistant coach, while also taking charge of a soon-to-be-created Bermuda A team.