Moore: We have to beat Cayman

FRIDAY, JULY 22: National cricket coach David Moore has warned his players not to take minnows Cayman Islands for granted in today’s regional World Twenty20 clash at Central Broward Regional Stadium.

Bermuda will face the Caymans knowing that a win will guarantee their place at next March’s global World Twenty20 qualifiers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The last time the two countries met in a Twenty20 (2010 Americas Division One Twenty20) the Caymans sprung an upset on Moore’s men.

And it is for this reason the Australian isn’t dismissing Caymans’ chances ahead of today’s clash with so much more at stake.

He said: “We can’t drop our guard because I have watched the Caymans play and they have some very good bowlers.

“They are a pretty tidy team and as you know they beat us last year in the Twenty20 in Bermuda.”

The Caymans thrashed ICC Associate newcomers Suriname by seven wickets in their last outing while Bermuda lost by 15 runs on Duckworth/Lewis against Canada.

A lethargic batting display saw Bermuda limp to 79 for nine before rain brought proceedings to a premature halt, with Canada poised at 40 for one after seven overs.

After electing to bat Bermuda slumped to 36 for eight and had to rely on a timely 43-run ninth-wicket stand between tailenders Malachi Jones (29 not out) and Joshua Gilbert (13) to carry the team past the half-century mark.

Moore added: “You can only be judged on your performance in the last game and we were very disappointing in our last match.

“Nobody seemed to want to take control in the batting effort until Malachi and Joshua came in.

“They batted for ten overs while our top eight batsmen combined could not bat for ten overs, which showed the lack of application which we have spoken about and what we need to do.

“If we get on the back foot like we did against Canada we could be in trouble against the Caymans.”

The humbling loss to Canada put a dent in Bermuda’s ICC Americas Twenty20 Division One Championship aspirations. And they must now remain unbeaten for the remainder of the tournament and rely on other results to go their way if they are to have another crack at the title.

Moore said: “It’s always nice to be the champion of your region. If we can go through the rest of the tournament undefeated and America can knock off Canada then it gets a little more interesting.

“There’s a lot of things to play for and the rest day (yesterday) has come at the right time were we can regenerate our batteries and the boys can have some relaxation.

“Everyone is allowed a bad game and we played our bad game and so we have to put that behind us and play as well as we did against Suriname.”