National cricket coach David Moore has denied the suggestion that David Hemp stood down as captain after several former cricketers voiced their views that Stephen Outerbridge should be installed as the new skipper.Moore said yesterday it was “completely irrelevant” that Hemp was aware of the calls for him to relinquish the captaincy. He said discussions had been going on for some time with the captain over a succession plan.“The key for successful administration of any sporting organisation is to ignore the pundits and make decisions based on sound principles,” said the coach. “I think these discussions between David, myself and Neil (BCB chief executive Speight) have been going on for two and a half years so it would be wrong for anyone to think that David Hemp stepped aside, or the board asked him to step aside, because of pressure from pundits and alleged experts in the game. Those discussions have been ongoing since the day I arrived in trying to develop a succession plan.”Hemp made the decision to stand down last week but expressed his desire to continue as a player under the new captain.“I have worked with David the last two and a half years and I think he’s been an excellent captain, an excellent role model and I think it is a sign that he’s put Bermuda’s cricket ahead of his own game to allow an appropriate succession plan for the new captain to come in,” said Moore.“I don’t think we can ever question David’s desire to play for Bermuda, nor his ability as captain. He’s done well with the players he’s worked with, he’s been available to talk to players and he’s experienced and performed at the World Cup level. He is one of the batsmen when Bermuda made the World Cup who actually did perform quite well and I think it’s important that we acknowledge that, but also acknowledge his selflessness in stepping aside. From my discussions he didn’t have to think about it twice, he knew it was the best thing for Bermuda cricket and made that decision.”The Board will begin the process of appointing a new captain. “The Board has not set a specific timeframe to announce the new captain but I can confirm that the process, under the published criteria, is a priority of the Board,” said Speight on Monday.Added the coach: “From my point of view it would be nice to know who the captain is so that I can work closely with him to develop some strategies and some ideas to take the team forward like I did with David. But it’s in the Board’s hands. I’m sure the Board has left no stone unturned to try to get the correct candidate for the position.”Meanwhile, Moore is concerned about the small turn-outs to training sessions so far as preparations begin for the Division Three tournament next April which Bermuda will host.“From a coach’s point of view if you pick 34 guys you would like to see a better turn-out than we’ve been getting,” said Moore. “Then again it’s about the players and how they see the importance of being picked in the squad and their commitment.“ We’ve been getting about 10 players at every training session and I’ve got to take my hat off to them for their commitment. I fully support those guys who are willing to come out and train. I would like to see the players come out as soon as possible, we’ve got less than 30 weeks until the first ball is bowled and if they don’t come out soon they will struggle to make the team because they won’t have fulfilled the selection criteria that has been set by the Board.”One player told The Royal Gazette last week he was taking a break after a long season and probably wouldn’t begin training for another couple of months. That player runs the risk of eliminating himself from the squad based on the criteria, Moore stated.Saturday’s rain-interrupted session was attended by about 10 players and the coach set up tactical training in match situations. Two more sessions are scheduled for this week, one this evening and another on Saturday at the National Sports Centre and Moore is hoping the number increase, for good reason.“When we’ve played in these previous tournaments our tactical application hasn’t been great so we’re doing some scenarios within the centre wicket to try and develop our ability to chase runs, set scores and take singles in the centre,” Moore stressed.“We are playing five teams in April, we haven’t beaten the USA since I’ve been here, we got beaten twice by Uganda in Division Two and we got beaten by Nepal in Dubai in the T20. Nepal aren’t going to wait until Christmas to come out. I know for a fact they are already training, I know Uganda and Oman would like to get back (to Division Two) and they won’t be holding back. And I know Italy will be bringing one former Australia one-day international player and a current first-class cricketer who plays for Middlesex.“So we can’t dilly-dally around and wait for full attendances. We don’t want to be the ones who are training the least. We want to be the ones who are training the hardest, because those who train the hardest and prepare the best are the ones who go back up to Division Two. And our record against some of these teams in this division isn’t great. My international coaching experience tells me we need to train solely for eight months to get this where we need to be.”