With the Bermuda national team's Caribbean tour coming to an end let's take a close look at the tour and the selection issues that the Bermuda Cricket Board will be faced with.

In my opinion selecting a final 15 from this pool will prove to be quite difficult. The selection committee certainly have their work cut out. The expectation and intrigue sets up for an interesting week as we all wait with great anticipation the final team selection.

Over the last few weeks Bermuda have travelled to various Caribbean islands playing against quality opposition. From the results it looks as if the primary purpose of building team unity and confidence has been accomplished. Winning before a major tournament always adds an extra boost of confidence, and if we can take that with us to South Africa we should be ready to complete the mission.

Right now I would assume that the coach and captain have analysed each player's consistency, dedication, confidence and passion. In addition to that, knowing each player's personality is an integral part in even the little things like room-mate selection. This, believe it or not, can make or break the unity in the team. Picking the right balance of the team is probably going to be the most difficult when it comes to the final selection.

So what are some of the major headaches the selectors will face when selecting this team:

1) The team is top heavy with four quality spinners. The question is how many spinners will we take? Because unlike in the West Indies where the wickets assist spinners, the wickets in South Africa are better known to support fast bowlers.

2) With the wickets known to be lively and bouncy, how many seam bowlers are we going to take? We also have to be mindful of the fitness and recovery level of the fast bowlers we take.

3) There are two senior players, who if they were fit, would automatically walk into this team. The question is will the selectors gamble on Kevin Hurdle and Glenn Blakeney? Personally, I say yes, but we shall see.

4) Will a big name player be dropped from the final squad?

Looking at the tour some players have stood out more than others. Two players particularly who basically had one chance to prove themselves and did are Fiqre Crockwell and Jacobi Robinson. Statistically they had a reasonably good tour which adds to the selectors' headaches.

The area most likely to cause the most difficulty will be selecting the spinners. Rodney and Tamauri have both had five-wicket hauls while Delyone and Sluggo both have had four-wicket hauls, thus making selection that much more difficult.

Two things that could possibly separate them are their fielding and batting abilities, which will be an added bonus to the team.

Fast bowling quality could be the difference between us qualifying and not.

With competition is thick in this area. The question is who has really produced over the tour? George, Kyle and Jacobi have all done well, but we cannot forget Stefan Kelly who didn't tour. He will almost certainly claim a spot.

This is where the balance of the team comes into effect. How many seam bowlers/spin bowlers do we take?

In the batting department the majority of the batsmen, apart from Irving (Romaine) and Janeiro (Tucker) scored runs. However, both are more than capable at performing at the higher level and much will be expected of them to do so.

Chris Douglas, Crockwell and Lionel Cann have taken turns opening the innings and all have been successful. This is the one area that we have improved in tremendously and could be the key to our success in the tournament.

I want to wish all the players the best in their effort to get selected. Only 15 can get selected but whoever is selected, remember it is your duty to give your all for your country.

On a slightly different note, I wish to address the issue of David Hemp being selected vice-captain, which seems to be the focus by many fellow cricket fans around Bermuda.

Personally, I feel it is definitely the right choice at this current time.

Hemp has been with the team for the last two years and has familiarised himself with the players.

When you look at the other candidates like Janeiro, he just returned to the team, Lionel, his focus is on the captaincy, not vice-captaincy, Rodney was vice-captain and is a captain for the future but has to focus on securing a spot in the team first.

Therefore, Hemp, who for the last few seasons has captained Glamorgan and has an abundance of knowledge, is an obvious choice.

If Irving was to depart the field for any reason, the team will definitely have the confidence in him to lead them. All the negative comments concerning Hemp are not necessary and people have to move on.

Hemp has shown a total commitment to Bermuda over the past few years and his presence has been well received by the players, coaches and management.

In closing, I leave the players with these words of wisdom: "The road you are about to travel has been travelled by many great cricketers and only few have reached the end.

"When you come to the end of this journey, whether successful or not, make sure you have left it all on the field of play."

Good Luck!