It's time for Bermuda to shake off the cobwebs of the Roland Butcher controversy and throw its collective support behind the national cricket team.

So says interim coach Winston Reid.

Reid, who guided the country to its first ever Red Stripe Bowl victory last October against Cayman Islands, noted that his men were ready and raring to go against the touring MCC today (Somerset Cricket Club, 11 a.m.) and tomorrow (White Hill Field, 11 a.m.) in what will be their first test as a team since the Caribbean venture.

"One of the things I would especially like is for people to rally behind the team, leave all the negatives behind, and encourage those guys and make them feel good,'' said the Barbados-born Reid, a former star opening batsman for Somerset and Bermuda. "It is important at this stage for us to look at the positives.

"We've been doing a lot of good stuff in training regardless of what's been happening, and a lot of people have been saying things and forming their own opinions without ever coming to see exactly what is being done.

"I listen to them and have to sometimes say `wow', because they could not be further from the truth. Things are said on the talk shows that are incorrect.

I'm not one to get on the talk shows, but they can call me anytime if they want to know what's happening.

"Sixty thousand people are in this together, not 14, and I'm willing to talk to anybody.'' As far as the immediate task of tackling an MCC side containing several players with first class experience and a few that have played at Test level, Reid was confident of Bermuda being able to acquit themselves.

"The guys can't wait. We've been looking forward to these games for a long time, since they were announced,'' said Reid. "We've been training extremely hard, and to have the season start was a bonus for the guys, with some of the batsmen having had good scores thus far, and Dale Fox has gotten some wickets, so I think the guys are prepared and ready.'' Without revealing their exact nature, the coach noted there to be various strategies in place for his side in reference to performing under the limited overs format.

However, a key component will have to be the top order batsmen, with a chronic Achilles heel having been Bermuda's inability to garner good starts and as a consequence having to rely on the middle to late order for the bulk of the runs.

Coach calls for support From Page 17 "We have two areas that are of great concern to me, the opening and the last 10-over period,'' said Reid. "We have brought in Ricky (Hill) and hopefully he can add some strength to the opening partnership along with (Albert) Steede, neither of whom we had in Canada or Antigua.

"Hopefully these guys can do the job.'' Beyond that area, Reid said he had set goals for each 10-over segment, whereby wickets are maintained and runs are accumulated at a good clip without having to resort to slogging.

"There is the issue of how do we approach the game in the first 10 overs, because it's not a matter of just going out there and bang, bang, bang. We've talked about how we should approach it and we have a plan.

"The problem that we had in Canada and Antigua was the last 10 overs where we were getting around 30 runs and we recognise this is not adequate and have to improve that to where we can get the 70s and 80s during that time.

"It may be that we need to shift the batting around a bit, let the earlier batsmen hang around a bit longer so that in the last 10 overs we have around six wickets left, then we can surely increase the run rate.

"We can't try and score seven runs an over from the first over and then when it comes to the 40th over we only have two wickets left and we've only 160.'' On each of the two days the team will be chosen from the 14 members selected to comprise the ICC Trophy team, with the only certain absentee being Dennis Archer, who has a broken arm.

Bermuda: Charlie Marshall (captain), Clay Smith (vice-captain), Albert Steede, Richard Basden, Janeiro Tucker, Kwame Tucker, Herbie Bascome, Ricky Hill, O.J.Pitcher, Hasan Durham, Dwayne Leverock, Dale Fox, Dennis Archer, Dennis Pilgrim.

Key player: Dwayne Leverock's all-round talents could be a key to the success of Bermuda's cricket team, both against MCC and during the upcoming ICC Trophy.