either prior to launching their Test careers or very soon after breaking through.

It happened when the teenaged Gus Logie came here with a Trinidad team in the late 1970s, with David Murray, Carlisle Best and Thelston Payne in a Barbados squad in 1981, Jeff Dujon with the 1982 Jamaica squad, Winston Benjamin and Richie Richardson with Antigua in 1984, with Philo Wallace with the 1989 Barbados Cavaliers and Andy Cummins with the Cavaliers a year later.

The West Indies Select who arrive on Thursday are bound to launch a player into the Test team in the future, possibly by the time England tour the Caribbean early next year.

Knocking hardest on the door is captain Roland Holder, a Barbados-born middle-order batsman who is set for his second tour of Bermuda in three years having been a part of the 1990 Barbados Cavaliers.

The pundits in the Caribbean say Holder is a certainty for selection in the West Indies squad that will tour the United Arab Emirates, India and Sri Lanka later this year and other players from this squad could also break through.

There is talk of a batsman, wicket-keeper and also a fast bowler since Ian Bishop has again been sidelined by a back injury.

It is for that reason that this tour will have more importance for the visitors than those made by the 1991 Australians and the Pakistanis of just recently.

The likes of Holder, opening batsmen Wallace, Stuart Williams of the Leewards and Robert Samuels of Jamaica, wicket-keepers Ridley Jacobs and Courtney Browne, fast bowlers Franklyn Rose, Cameron Cuffy and Eugene Antoine and off-break bowler Nehemiah Perry all see this tour as the perfect opportunity to gain selection for the West Indies tour, which will involve a series of one-day matches. "All of them are in contention,'' manager Charlie Griffith said of the entire 14-member squad. "There are all future West Indies players if they apply themselves.'' The squad has an average age of 23, ranging from fast bowler Casper Davis of the Windward Islands who is the oldest at 27 to teenager Shivnarine Chanderpaul of Guyana, the youngest at 18.

Wallace is the only member of the squad to have toured with the West Indies senior team, travelling to Sharjah in 1991 and to Pakistan and Australia for the World Series Cup in 1991-92.

Wallace has played in 10 one-day internationals for the West Indies and is one of the leading contenders for the spot, which will soon be vacated by 37-year-old Desmond Haynes. A good tour of Bermuda will ensure that he stays in the minds of the selectors.

"All these players have the potential and ability to go on and knock on the West Indies door,'' added Griffith who is managing a West Indies team for the first time.

Griffith is a regular visitor to Bermuda and is familiar with the standard of play here, which he hopes the West Indies Board Select will help to improve.

"We have a good young team that is going to provide the competition you so need,'' he said.

"Bermuda is a part of me. I was there last year and usually come and keep a low profile.'' Griffith formed with another Barbadian, Wes Hall, one of the most lethal pace attacks in world cricket in the 1960s.

Since then the West Indies have been rolling one fast bowler after another off the conveyor belt, not just in the bigger islands like Barbados and Jamaica but also in the Leeward and Windward islands and Trinidad.

The squad to Bermuda will contain five fast bowlers and a spinner, ranging in age from 21 to 27. "A lot of people consider 27 to be old but I don't feel so,'' said Griffith of Casper Davis. "You've got to blend youth with experience.'' Griffith expects big things from captain Holder, youngster Chanderpaul, wicket-keepers Jacobs and Browne and off-spinner Perry in years to come.

"Holder actually has a future to look forward to while Philo Wallace has already played for the West Indies in one-day internationals,'' said Griffith.

"Chanderpaul is a very cool and level-headed player. Perry is a very good off-spinner as well and if he continues to work might be knocking on the door.'' ROLAND HOLDER -- In action during his 1990 visit here.