January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Hemp staying positive
Hemp staying positive
Hemp, who has averaged 6.6 in five innings so far on this tour following on from a rough season with Glamorgan, admits he can't remember the last time he suffered such a dismal run.
But the left handed batsman believes he is not in bad form and can turn things around if he is selected for the four-day Intercontinental Cup games with Kenya and the UAE.
"I just have to put things in perspective, keep backing myself and believing in my ability and give myself a chance to perform.
" I actually feel in reasonable nick. It's been the story of the summer, for me. My feet have been moving well, I don't feel in any sort of bother, I haven't been playing and missing - everything I've nicked has gone to hand.
"Sometimes it happens that way, in cricket. Sometimes you'll play and miss, you'll edge a few and get dropped and you'll go on and score a hundred.
"It's been disappointing and frustrating but we had a good training session today (Tuesday) and hopefully I'll have a good net tomorrow and I'll get another chance in the four-day game.
"It's a long time since I had a run like this, but for me you have to take the positives out of every situation and when I've been in, I don't feel like I've struggled. I just keep getting out."
Hemp hopes the switch to the four-day format will bring about a change in fortunes for himself and for Bermuda.
"One-day cricket is more of a pressure situation. You've got to score quickly, you've got to rotate the strike. With the four-day game there is no scoreboard pressure and you can play at your own pace.
"Hopefully I can get the opportunity to play and spend a lot of time in the middle," added the batsman, who scored an unbeaten 47 against the Netherlands the last time he represented Bermuda in this competition in November last year.
Hemp, who will be 37 next week, believes the results on the tour so far - a 1-1 tie with Uganda and a 3-0 reverse against Kenya - are not as bad as they seem. And he thinks there is room for optimism, particularly after the two closely contested ODIs with the Kenyans last weekend.
"It's not as disastrous as people are making out. It's disappointing and we've let ourselves down with the bat. But we have fielded and bowled well and if we'd put 200 on the board in the last two games we could have won both of them. The last game, in particular, we were disappointed that we couldn't eke out a win.
"There is ability and talent in the young players coming through and in the senior players its just harnessing everything together."[[In-content Ad]]
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