simple question, first collectively, then individually: "Do you think we can win a game in the Red Stripe Bowl?'' To a man, they replied positively, despite the fact that no Bermuda team -- in three years of participation in the competition -- have experienced the taste of victory.

As Douglas tells the story while overseeing a number of the 14-man squad go through their paces at a net erected on Cleveland field, you feel as if each affirmative answer was critical to him: even a coach needs constructive feedback.

"We had a good meeting the other night,'' he explains. "I asked them as a team and then individually, did they honestly believe they could do it. They all said yes. Now we have to keep hold of that. I don't have any worries for the guys who have been there and seen the calibre of the cricket -- the Herbie Bascomes, the Irving Romaines, the Dexter Smiths -- they won't be over-awed.

"But for the newcomers the response is often one of initial shock. It's like `wow'. But after that, once they've experienced one match, they're usually all right.'' Douglas takes four players to Jamaica on the verge of their international debuts: quick bowlers Clarkie Trott and David Gibbs and spinners Stephen Outerbridge and Hasan Durham.

Two others -- Cleveland's Aaron Adams and Richard Basden of Willow Cuts -- will be travelling to their first Red Stripes.

That is why the coach is particularly happy to have someone like the upbeat Romaine in the tour party to settle any first night nerves ahead of next Wednesday's opener against the hosts. Further games follow against defending champions Guyana and the Windward Islands.

"It's great to have him,'' the coach says of the hard-hitting Bailey's Bay batsman. "He's always smiling, but he concentrates at the right time and he loves a challenge.

"Attitude is so important. A guy like Courtney Walsh can pick on your tiniest weakness. He can figure you out just by the way you walk to the wicket.'' Romaine knows that well: he also knows what it's like to have the West Indies and Jamaican paceman whistle the seam past his nose.

"Last time, I hit Walsh straight,'' he says. "Then he bowled me a bouncer -- a deliberate no-ball -- just to make sure I showed some respect.'' Youth policy: Bermuda bowler Herbie Bascome gives his young son Okera a spot of coaching before last night's Red Stripe Bowl practice session at Cleveland field.