the middle of October.

The senior national squad and Bermuda Cricket Board of Control's selection committee were officially advised of the venue on Wednesday night when preparations for the Caribbean limited overs tournament were stepped up a notch during a meeting with players.

However, the BCBC are still awaiting news of the pairings, hopeful that Bermuda will get a favourable draw.

BCBC president El James said he was pleased with the venue, indicating that he preferred to have Bermuda play in the smaller confines of Antigua rather than a larger country like Jamaica where matches were often held several miles out in the country causing travel problems. The event has twice been held in Jamaica in recent years.

"We are pleased with the venue. Antigua is a beautiful island and rates second only to Barbados when it comes to attracting locals for Test trips and it has a great cricket history,'' said James.

"But the fact remains that wherever was the chosen venue we would have accepted it and made the normal preparations to send a team down there capable of representing the Island well.

"One thing I will say is that we have a great nucleus of players in the fold right now, especially coming off the regional tournament in Toronto earlier this month and I think that we will go to the Red Stripe Bowl with one of the strongest teams we have taken in years.'' However, James said there was still a question mark over star batsman Albert Steede who withdrew from the Toronto trip after refusing to play under the captaincy of Charlie Marshall? James said he was unaware of Steede's status and could not say whether the player had made any contact with committee members about a change of heart.

Meanwhile, last night's special general meeting at Warwick Workmen's Club called by the Board was specifically designed to distribute to the affiliates the audited statements of a year ago as they weren't ready in time for the annual general meeting.

But the Board were also expected to make use of the gathering to give those in attendance additional details about the confirmation of Barbadian-born Roland Butcher as national coach.