National skipper Clay Smith yesterday described the arrival of English County cricket star David Hemp as ?a positive on and off the field?.

Bermuda-born Hemp, the scorer of more than 12,000 first-class runs, is currently working with the Bermuda Cricket Board to fulfil his 100 days residency requirements to be able to take part in all ICC competitions ? and is now also training with Gus Logie?s national team.

The national squad, whose last matches were in October in Namibia, were given some time off but have now been back at training since mid-November, working three days a week on fitness.

Hemp, who is already eligible for the World Cup having been born in Bermuda, is among those training and Smith believes he can only have a positive influence on the other players in the squad.

?It is great to have him here,? said Smith, who admitted numbers for early training sessions were ?a little low? but have now picked up to ?very healthy? levels.

?I think it is a positive on and off the field. To be honest, it is an oversight that he has never been involved before now but I am glad he is here now and so are the other players.

?He has got a wealth of experience and I am looking forward to learning from him. I am going to be watching and studying him to see what I can learn and I would hope my team-mates will do the same.?

Smith, along with fellow veteran Dean Minors, played against Hemp in an Under-19 side in the late 1980s and believes his arrival will help Bermuda compete with other nations who have also adopted new players from overseas.

?Everyone else is doing it and I think it is only right that we are too,? continued Smith, who returned early from a coaching stint at the ICC Winter Training Camp in Pretoria last month for ?personal reasons?.

?You look at Canada with John Davidson who has played most of his cricket in Australia and just flies back to play for them. Other countries are also doing it, some of them using a lot of new players to help raise their standards.

?You just have to look at David?s record to see what he has done in the game and I think he can be a great asset to us. But, like everyone else now, he is just training hard and hoping to earn his spot in the team.?

Smith is also pleased with Hemp?s arrival in terms of what he can offer off the field ? with the Glamorgan player of the year holding an MBA and helping chief executive Neil Speight with the massive changes taking place in the BCB in the light of receiving an $11 million injection from Government over the next five years.

?He has a wealth of experience and I think that will also benefit Bermuda cricket,? he said.

?There are some pretty substantial changes going on at the moment in the way things are done in cricket here and his knowledge and experience are going to play a big part in that.

?He can do a lot to help us over the next few years.?

Smith was also keen to pan the critics who have raised doubts over Hemp?s arrival post-World Cup qualification and concerns that he is taking advantage of Bermuda?s position and being given preferential treatment.

?That is ludicrous, it really is,? continued Smith, who himself was on the receiving end of plenty of criticism over the status of his knee ahead of the ICC Trophy in Ireland this summer where Bermuda secured their place in the 2007 World Cup.

?Something positive is happening and all these folk come out of the woodwork to criticise when they themselves haven?t done nothing for Bermuda cricket.

?No disrespect, but you wonder if any of these guys have even been to a cricket game in the last five years or so.

?It?s easy to get on this bandwagon criticising what is going on but now is the time we need to be working together and rolling with the programme to achieve what we want to with cricket here.?

The national side are training through the winter ahead of their training camp in Trinidad in March although Smith believes that if an earlier tournament did arise ? and there has been talk of a triangular one-day international competition in January involving Kenya and UAE ? that the side would be ready.

?We are just working on our general fitness and keeping things going so that if something does arise we can get in a couple of weeks of intensive cricket work and then be ready,? he added.

?We don?t want to be starting from scratch if there is cricket to be played and it is important for the national programme that there is continuity and the players stay in shape and keep working on their fitness.?

Smith was unwilling to talk about players? contracts, although it is known the BCB are looking into formalising their arrangements with the players with some form of announcement expected in the New Year.