``I think Barbados has got a very good side that could win this competition,'' Haynes said on Wednesday.

The former West Indies opener praised the performance of Philo Wallace, the Barbados captain who is aiming to emulate him in the Test arena.

``He led from the front. He is a very good one-day cricketer,'' Haynes said of Wallace.

The Barbados side has a lot of good batsmen and recent West Indies players who are looking to regain a place and they should play very well in the competition, Haynes added.

Barbados play Guyana in the first Bowl semifinal in Jamaica today.

Haynes has been named sports ambassador for the Government's Gems of Barbados chain of hotels. His job involves promoting the hotels in all of the cricketing nations.

On Wednesday, he took part in a celebrity match with members of the Gems group and other past players like Sylvester Clarke, Richard Straker, Ezra Moseley and George Linton at the Dover Ground.

Haynes expressed a wish to help with cricket in Barbados, a job Prime Minister Owen Arthur has said is being earmarked for him, particularly among the schools.

``Obviously, if I am living in Barbados I would like to get involved in local cricket, but at the moment Barbados has a coach so I don't know what my involvement would be,'' Haynes said.

``At the end of the day, I think you should wait your turn because there are a lot of people here who have done well in West Indies and Barbados cricket who have a lot to offer as well. So I have to wait and see if my services would be required.''

Looking further afield, Haynes believes that the coming series between West Indies and South Africa is going to be a very tough.

``I played cricket in South Africa and I was very impressed with the quality of cricket there,'' he said.

``I don't think that it is going to be an easy tour, but I am sure that a lot of West Indies players who have been on tour understand how important it is for them to win that series and they will be trying very hard to beat South Africa.''

But what is left for Desmond Leo Haynes? At 42, he is more interested in watching the game than playing.

``Watching a lot of it I hope, definitely not playing. I like watching cricket, talking about it.'' he said with a smile.

``At the moment I have no plans of what I am going to do next cricket season but I just have to wait and see.''