following their tour of the West Indies early next summer, Bermuda Cricket Board of Control have confirmed.

Pakistan, India and Australia have all visited Bermuda in recent years on their way home from the Caribbean. But when BCBC president El James and his new executive took over the reins they made it clear that their priority was reviving the sport domestically, and producing a good, youth development scheme.

Incoming tours, they said, were not high on their list.

"Our position hasn't changed from a year ago when we didn't bother to approach England about a visit to Bermuda, and I can tell you that the same applies for Australia next year,'' said James.

"The main reason is that we are trying to establish meaningful competitions.

We are in the process of establishing a regional tournament that will involve six or seven countries.

"We are also attempting to establish a triangular tournament with the United States and Canada, at a senior and junior level, tournaments that hopefully will take place next year. So we will be looking at possibly two or three engagements for the senior and junior teams and it's more important to aim for those goals.'' While acknowledging that the outgoing committee had worked hard to bring in Test playing countries over an extended period, the current Board believed those visits didn't help the development of Bermuda's young players.

And the Board also questioned how much it benefitted Bermuda to have world-class players perform on the Island immediately after a tough Test series.

"It's a gruelling tour when these countries go down to the West Indies for four to five months of cricket and play on a regular basis. And when they come here it's primarily for relaxation . .. cricket is the last thing on their minds. I know because I have played against them many times,'' added James.

"If we have teams come here we want them to come specifically to play cricket and to play at the highest level possible. That is the only way it is going to benefit our players.

"It is not our plan to bring in tours like that at a time when we are trying to place emphasis on our development programme and enhance existing programmes.

"We do have that in our plans down the road, maybe in the next few years when our development programme has advanced. But we would then hope to bring in international teams for competition so that our players could compete with them in serious matches.

"We are certainly not going to spend money bringing in a team just for entertainment ... we will only bring sides here so that our boys can showcase their talents and possibly put the visitors' backs against the wall in serious, very competitive matches which the fans will appreciate.''