against the West Indies `A' team in June, Bermuda should have some idea of where they stand in time for the ICC Trophy in Kenya in February.

"You can call me in the first week in July and I'll let you know if we can make the first three in Kenya,'' said Bermuda Cricket Board of Control president Ed Bailey yesterday.

Little can be gauged from the pre-season visit by Derbyshire when the Bermuda team put up two of the worst showings against the visitors.

But with the next two tours taking place during the local season and with players having matches under their belts, Bailey is confident things will be different.

"Derbyshire had said that in at least four of the matches they played they felt they could have been beaten,'' added Bailey.

The board presently has English coach Doug Ferguson here for a second coaching stint until the end of July. When he leaves the board is hoping to employ a coach from the Caribbean in the fall to polish up the squad for the trip to Kenya.

"We'll be looking for someone who has played a lot of first-class cricket and has a high profile,'' Bailey revealed.

He referred to the tactical approach of the local players as the one area where work is needed, from bowling to a plan, field placing and building an innings.

Those shortcomings were seen in the Derbyshire matches when the loss of a key wicket often resulted in a batting slump. It happened in the Bermuda Under-25 match when they had the visitors in trouble as well as against a Somerset XI when Jeff Richardson threw his wicket away during a promising stand with Andre Manders.

In the second Bermuda game against Derbyshire at St. David's, Arnold Manders skied a catch to mid-wicket one ball after losing opening partner Dennis Archer. The performances of some of the Bermuda players will be under close scrutiny during the upcoming tours with the visit by the West Indies `A' team expected to provide the players with the standard they can expect to find in Kenya next year.

"The only thing I'm sorry about the ICC is that it's not in June or July, in the middle of our season,'' said Bailey. He said because the tournament is in the off-season the trip to Barbados in November will be very important as a final preparation.

"The biggest job we have is the group of 18 from which we will have a squad of 15 or 16,'' said Bailey. "The squad will be picked, at the latest, by the end of November, so you can pretty much judge it by the squad that goes out to Barbados in November.'' For the West Indies `A' team visit the national squad will play three matches with two other matches being against the two Cup Match clubs, which contain the majority of the national team players, and the Under-23 squad so that the youth team that is heading out to the International Youth Tournament that month will get some exposure before they depart.

"Most of the national squad players will be involved in at least four matches,'' said Bailey. "The nucleus of the team for the under-23 match will be under-19 players.'' Despite the failure to win a match against Derbyshire, Bailey defends the board's decision to have them play Bermuda only twice.

"With Derbyshire it was felt at the time we still had to take a very broad approach to it,'' said the president. "We wanted to look at the top players on the Island. It was early in the season and we did not want to have a narrow net.

"Pakistan are only here for two matches so we're obligated to go with two games against the national team. When the West Indies get here we will be at least four of five months from picking the team, so we'll be looking to narrow it down to about two dozen players.'' The West Indies Cricket Board will not finalise the West Indies `A' tour group until the final Test match with Pakistan in Antigua. Then, player availability due to contracts abroad will be taken into consideration.

However, judging by the make-up of the recent President's XI and Under 23 teams, who played Pakistan, the squad should contain some of the top young players in the region who are on the fringe of the full Test team.

Those players include Roland Holder of Barbados, who was the top scorer (510 runs) in the Red Stripe competition, Barbados wicket-keeper Courtney Browne who had a record 27 dismissals, batsmen Sherwin Campbell and Philo Wallace and paceman Ottis Gibson.

Guyana fast bowler Barrington Browne, 25, who topped the bowling averages with 26 wickets, should be considered along with team-mates, batsmen Sudesh Dhaniram and Shivnarine Chanderpaul who hit a century for the President's XI against the Pakistanis.

Ridley Jacobs of the Leeward Islands, who also scored a century against Pakistan in the President's match and was fourth in the Red Stripe batting averages, is also in contention along with Jamaica fast bowler Nehemiah Perry who was fourth in the bowling averages with 17 wickets.