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The Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) hopes to introduce a `` semi-professional'' programme for selected Division 1 players next year, vice-president Keith Simmons said yesterday.

Simmons said the aim was to bring the game back to the high levels of the past.

``It (cricket) is still our No.1 sport and it must be treated as No.1,'' Simmons told the closing ceremony of the BCA's annual coaching camp at Combermere School yesterday.

``... we cannot expect England, Australia and South Africa to employ our people still,'' he added. ``Between Government and private enterprise have to do something about it.''

He added that authorities in the region must look at having the players employed ``but with the employers realising that the (players) have to play the game.

``Players should be allowed two half-days a week from work so they can practise from around noon to 6 p.m.,'' Simmons said. ``Our cricketers practice between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the evening, which is too short. Some of them bat for just 15 minutes in the afternoon.

``Then they are expected to go on Saturday and bat for three hours and correct their faults in the match. This is not working and we are seeing the results of this.''

The programme, which Simmons said was in the early stages of discussion, would not include the payment of the players for actually playing, with the benefit being a salaried job with time off for training.

Simmons, chairman of the BCA's cricket committee, hinted that if the initial programme was to bear fruit then the association could consider a professional segment during the season.

``In another two to three years we could then look at having a professional league for about 3-4 weeks in the summer where the players could be paid to play,'' Simmons said. ``We could look at three weeks of three-day cricket and a week of one-day matches.''

He said this could aid in the selection of the Barbados team for regional competition and work alongside the trial matches.

He said that Barbados could not reach peak level in sports by just skimming the surface as there was a need to dedicate time to the game.