THE excellent performances of Bermuda's spin trio on the recently concluded tour of the UK should give the national team selectors cause to think deeply about the future make-up of the side's inconsistent bowling attack.

In Dwayne Leverock, Delyone Borden and Hasan Durham, Bermuda have in their possession three of the best Associate nation spinners around, and on the evidence of the victories over Guernsey almost two weeks ago where all three of them played, Bermuda are a far more effective and competitive outfit when their names are on the team sheet.

National coach Gus Logie has admitted that serious consideration must now be given to playing three spinners on a more regular basis ? with the proviso that the conditions be properly assessed before each game.

While there must always be room for flexibility in cricket, an approach such as Logie's is based upon the assumption that there are a range of viable alternatives available to him.

But if the nature of Bermuda's results since qualifying for the World Cup last year have taught us anything, it is that the team does not yet possess a seam bowler of genuine class ? with the likes of Kevin Hurdle and Ryan Steede repeatedly found wanting against good players on flat pitches.

It is certainly not through any lack of effort or commitment that this should be so ? but it would be pointless and potentially damaging to the side's long-term prospects to continue to pretend otherwise.

This is certainly not the first time that an international team has been confronted with such a dilemma.

There was a dearth of Test-standard quicks in India for most of the 1970s and 1980s ? though they still succeeded in pulling off series victories in the West Indies and England during that time, as well as securing repeated Test match wins in both Australia and New Zealand.

Their approach to the problem was brave yet refreshingly simplistic ? rather than be straight-jacketed by the traditional assumption that an ideal attack contains three seamers and two spinners, they decided to pick the regardless of style or any great consideration of the conditions in which they were playing.

The best bowlers at the time happened to be a quartet of spinners: Erapalli Prasanna, Srinivas Venkataraghvan, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and of course, Bishen Bedi.

In fairness, more often than not, only three of them would play in any one game, but between them they played 225 Test matches and took over 800 Test wickets.

In other words, along with batsmen Sunil Gavaskar, they were the foundation upon which India's success at that time was based.

Before their 1971 tour of England, the British press were enormously critical of the decision to include five spinners and only three seamers in the 16-man Indian squad. "You cannot win Test matches in England with an attack like that" was the typical line and the feeling was that the tourists were about to be humiliated.

India went on to win the three-match series one-nil ? their first series victory in England ? while making a mockery of the predictions by including three and sometimes all four spinners in each game.

Bermuda would do well to follow this example.

It almost goes without saying, of course, that Leverock, Borden and Durham do not possess the talent of those Indian magicians, but what is clear is that they are the best bowlers currently available and must therefore play without question.

This is not to say they will always be successful, that conditions will always suit them or that they won't also be treated with disdain by some of the best batsmen in the world.

But given there is such a limited pool of players capable of representing Bermuda with any real distinction, it would surely be a mistake to leave out any of the only three bowlers with a proven ability to penetrate and control with the ball.

With a guaranteed 30 overs of spin to call upon and Saleem Mukuddem certain of a starting berth because of what he offers with both bat and ball, the second seam bowling place would then have to be fought over by the only two realistic candidates, St. David's' George O'Brien jr and Stefan Kelly.

Neither of them are perfect to be sure, with O'Brien in particular needing to shed pounds and add maturity if he is to make the most of his considerable potential.

Yet the question that must be asked is this: can anybody honestly say that they would do any worse a job for the national cause than the already tried, tested and failed duo of Hurdle and Steede? The answer has to be no.

*****

THE debate started in the recently over whether veteran batsman Charlie Marshall should be recalled to the national team after an impressive run of scores in the domestic leagues has certainly made for interesting reading.

Unfortunately it's a non-starter.

Nobody can deny that Marshall has been, and to some extent still is, one of the best batsmen in Bermuda. His ability has never been in question ? but rather his attitude.

Speaking to many of the current national squad in private, it is clear that most of them are glad the Social Club player-coach was thrown out by Logie and captain Clay Smith last year and that his divisive influence is no longer a factor.

Anybody who has spent time around the squad over the course of the last few tours overseas will testify that they are as committed and harmonious a bunch of cricketers that you are ever likely to come across ? now more like a family than team-mates.

It would be absolute madness at this stage to re-introduce such a polarising figure as Marshall into the mix, regardless of whatever benefits his presence might bring.

While his forceful personality allowed him to get away with murder under former coach Mark Harper, in Logie the veteran East Ender came up against a man who refused to be trifled with or to tolerate disruptive behaviour. He paid the price.

And as long as he and Smith remain in charge, and with the captain and new-boy David Hemp soon to become available, Marshall has absolutely no chance of being recalled and it is to be hoped that this debate will now die a quick death.