As Bermuda's national team cricketers headed for Jamaica and the Red Stripe Bowl early yesterday to take on the might of Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh and company, BCBC selection committee chairman John Tucker assured "the best possible squad'' had been chosen.

Tucker admitted that the West Indies Cricket Board's delay in finalising sponsors, groupings, venues and dates for the competition had contributed to a number of problems leading up to the final selection.

But he said he was confident Bermuda would be well represented.

"The trouble this year was that the West Indies Board didn't give any confirmation about what was happening until late,'' explained Tucker. "They were working things out with new sponsors, and this left us with a lot to do in a short time. This affected the selection process as far as players getting sufficient notification to get time off work.

"It became something of a headache for us, not knowing if players were going to be available or not. But it was something we managed to overcome. At the time, it's one of the best squads we could have fielded, taking into consideration who was available.'' Tucker stressed that some of the new players would gain invaluable experience.

"The team has a few changes to the one we sent last year,'' he added.

"We felt that it was time to give others the opportunity to show their talent abroad. We have a few in there who have never played overseas and this should be good experience for them.'' While veteran Arnold Manders was quietly moved in to replace Albert Steede as team captain, Tucker said there was never any controversy surrounding the changeover, noting it was something that even Steede endorsed.

Steede had been captain since 1992 while Manders last skippered the squad back in 1990.

Coach Allan Douglas has also publicly stated that the intention was to enable Steede to concentrate more on his batting.

"We felt that Arnold Manders, being the most senior player in the squad, would be the ideal person to lead the team at this time. We talked to Albert, he is a team player all of the way, and he assured us that he would give assistance to Manders,'' said Tucker.

"We felt that Albert would be more productive as a batsman. We are relying on him to score lots of runs. We talked about everything in detail and there are no hard feelings. He has told us that whatever the skipper and coach requests, he will give one hundred percent to support them.'' JOYFUL MOOD -- Members of Bermuda's national cricket squad appear in a happy frame of mind at the BCBC offices on Wednesday night before their departure yesterday for the Red Stripe Bowl in Jamaica. Front (left to right are: Janeiro Tucker, Lionel Cann, Roger Blades, Del Hollis and skipper Arnold Manders. At back are Cleon Scotland and Irving Romaine.