Clarence Parfitt, Cup Match?s most successful bowler, yesterday threw his full weight behind Bermuda?s ICC Trophy squad.

Speaking from his adopted homeland in Scotland, the former St.George?s, Bermuda and Arbroath United left-handed medium pacer, described Clay Smith?s squad as a very balanced nucleus capable of holding their own come July in Ireland.

?I think we should be okay. The team has depth in its batting and bowling and Gus (national coach Gus Logie) is fully aware of the conditions over here in the UK,? said Parfitt, who took 115 Somerset Cup Match scalps between 1965 and 1981.

Parfitt is current vice -president at Arbroath and regional cricket development officer in Scotland, last summer?s inaugural ICC Intercontinental Cup champions.

Bermuda will compete in Group One at July?s ICC Trophy Tournament ? along with hosts Ireland ? while Scotland have been placed in Group Two.

The legendary bowler acknowledged: ?The wickets are going to be slower over in Ireland. The medium pacers and spin bowlers are going to do most of the damage over here. And I think you are going to need a couple of spinners in the team. Every time Scotland have played over there we always take two or three spinners in the team.?

On paper, Bermuda?s ICC Trophy squad consists of just one specialist spinner in Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock and young off-spinner Delyone Borden along with seven seamers in Kevin Hurdle, OJ Pitcher, Saleem Mukuddem, Dennis Archer, vice-captain Janeiro Tucker, Ryan Steede and Lionel Cann.

Although young Borden has yet to prove himself at the international level, according to one source yesterday, the St.David?s Islander has the ability to turn the ball ?square?, while Leverock is the team?s sole left-handed bowler.

Veterans Charlie Marshall, Dean Minors, Albert Steede, Tucker, Irving Romaine and skipper Smith are expected to shoulder the bulk of the squad?s batting duties with the likes of all-rounders Mukuddem, Archer, Leverock and Cann each capable of making valuable contributions to the island?s 2007 World Cup cause lower down the order.

Kwame Tucker, Hasan Durham, Chris Foggo and Wendell White all presently remain on stand-by in the event one of the squad?s originally named 14 members suffers injury or illness.

Surprisingly overlooked for selection were all-rounder Corey Hill, opening batsman Jermaine Postlethwaite and Del Hollis.

Richard Basden was excused from final team selection through injury.

But if Bermuda are to be successful in Ireland, Parfitt added, then much will hinge largely upon the team?s seam bowling attack.

?They (seamers) should all do well providing they can pitch the ball up. But overall I think the team should do okay,? he said. ?It?s quite a balanced team and now we will have to keep our fingers crossed and wait and see what happens in Ireland.?

With regards to skipper Smith?s troubled knee, Parfitt noted: ?Being a batsman I think he might be able to get away with it. I would also like to think that being the skipper he can position himself in the field where he doesn?t need to do a lot of running.

?If Gus (Logie) says he?s going to be okay then I don?t see where it?s going to be a problem with him. But he should be fine and I don?t think he have any problems running between the stumps.?

Breaking silence over his injury earlier this week, skipper Smith said the ?the whole thing has been blown out of proportion?.

?Last summer when we qualified for the ICC Trophy there was absolutely no talk about my knee and it was in worse shape then and I was limping,? he told .

?The focus now needs to be the team and not on Clay Smith?s knee.?

Smith topped Bermuda?s batting averages during last summer?s Americas Championship and ICC Intercontinental Cup campaigns before etching his name in local cricket history by becoming the first batsman to score three centuries in the annual Cup Match classic.

The national squad skipper, who has been injury prone in recent years, injured himself fielding in the covers during the squad?s recent ten-day training camp in Trinidad ? only months after undergoing knee surgery.

Smith, a veteran of three ICC Trophy campaigns, insisted: ?Right now it (knee) is a little bit stiff twisting and turning but I could play every week.?

Bermuda depart for the UK on June 19.