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The bulk of Bermuda's cricket squad has been recruited on full-time contracts as preparations for the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa intensify.

Almost all of Gus Logie's 19-man squad have now been signed up by the cricket board on professional terms for the next three months in readiness for the tournament in April.

The main component of the squad's preparations will be a month long 13-match tour of the Caribbean departing this month and encompassing Trinidad, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada.

The full squad got together for the first time on Monday with 16 players reporting for training at the Olympic Club Gym.

Over the next month they will work on fitness and in the nets as well as completing tactical sessions and analyzing video footage of their opponents before training steps up a level when they depart for the Caribbean.

It is the second time the board has signed up its squad on full-time contracts, taking the same approach in the run up to the World Cup in the West Indies in 2007.

There were few surprises in the provisional 19-man squad named by coach Logie yesterday with pace men George O'Brien and Kevin Hurdle, who is on the road to recovery from a long-term injury, returning to the fold.

Logie said contract negotiations still needed to be finalized with a handful of the player's employers, understood to include Hurdle and wicket-keeper Fiqre Crockwell.

But he said it was exciting to have the full squad together with a common goal in mind.

"We have to spend the next few weeks getting to know each other again and understanding why we are here.

"In 2009 we want to prove the critics wrong. We've taken a lot of flack, some of it justified, some of it not, but we have the ability to put things right.

"We have the ability now to prepare to our best and produce the results we deserve. I've no doubt we can qualify again. There's nothing in the stars that says we can't do it."

The squad departs for Trinidad on January 29, where they will be based at the national cricket centre in Couva.

They will play four games against a variety of opposition including a Trinidad and Tobago Under-23 side, the University of Trinidad and Tobago and club side W Connection Wanderers.

In St Lucia they will face a national select XI in two games and the local Premier League champions in a further fixture while six further games will be scheduled against national selects and top club sides in Grenada and St Vincent.

"Basically we'll have five days in each of those territories, three games in each and four in Trinidad.

"In South Africa we are

going to be playing in a lot of different venues against different opposition so we are trying to get as much diversity as possible. We'll be coming up against quality players in all of the islands and we'll have to adjust to different conditions which is what it is all about."

Some of the opponents Bermuda will come up against include St Lucia's Darren Sammy, who has been capped at Test level by the West Indies, Grenada's Andre Fletcher, who played for the Stanford All Stars and St Vincent fast bowler Deighton Butler as well as a slew of top young Trini players. Logie expects to use his full 19-man squad in rotation throughout the tour with the likes of Stephen Outerbridge and Stefan Kelly to be replace by David Hemp, who will arrive from England for the latter stages of the trip.

After the players return to Bermuda at the end of February, the squad will be cut to 15 for the qualifiers before Bermuda head out to South Africa in mid-March for two weeks of final preparations ahead of the tournament.[[In-content Ad]]

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