January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.

Players geared up for historic match

Cricket team to make One Day International debut

By James [email protected] | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Bermuda’s cricketers will make history today when they step out at the Queen's Park Oval to face Canada in the country's first ever one-day-international.

Captain Clay Smith, who is standing in as team manager while sidelined with a knee-injury, said the mood in the camp was upbeat and the players could not wait to get out and play.

Speaking in the midst of a net-session at the famous ground in Port of Spain, Trinidad, yesterday, Smith predicted his team would rise to the occasion.

“It’s our first one-day international and the guys are up for it. It's significant because everything we do will be a first — the first run, the first boundary, the first over bowled will all be historic events.

“The guys are taking it in stride and we won’t be overwhelmed by it. We’ve played Canada several times — they’ve beaten us and we’ve beaten them.

“We know their team inside out with the exception of a couple of new players they have brought in from Australia.

“We beat them in Toronto last year so we think that gives us an edge. The players are definitely up for it.”

The Bermudian team watched Zimbabwe play West Indies in the final one-day international of that series at the weekend and had another look at the African team when they played Canada yesterday. The Zimbabweans bowled the Canadians all out for 75 while posting a total of 218, for a comfortable 153 run victory.

That means a win for Bermuda against Canada today, would put them in Saturday's final against Zimbabwe regardless of the result when the two teams meet on Thursday.

Smith, though, is taking nothing for granted and said the team would stick to its tried and trusted policy of watching and assessing their opponents.

“It’s a matter of going in there and assessing them and seeing what works best.”

He said the wicket looked like a flat-batting track but would take spin, which should be to the advantage of Bermuda given the form of spin twins Hasan Durham and Dwayne Leverock.

He added that Bermuda was looking at the tournament as a stepping stone but was keen to win.

“We go into every game looking to win. Our strength is the unity within our team. I'm appreciative of the chance to be involved and to watch my players even though I'm out injured,” he added.

Martin Williamson, editor of influential cricket website CricInfo, said that he thought the tour and in particular the matches with Zimbabwe would be a good barometer of how far Bermuda had come.

He said he felt that Bermuda and Nepal, in particular, were the two emerging cricket nations to watch over the next decade.

“The impression I get is that this is a side that is going places. The fact that they have got this huge Government investment and are involved in the Stanford 20-20 bodes well.

“There are a couple of countries where cricket is being taken very seriously. Bermuda is one and probably Nepal is the other.”

He said the fact that Bermuda had home grown players and a good club structure rather than relying on second or first generation immigrants as many of the associate nations, such as Canada, do, would stand it in good stead. Of the fact that Bermuda was now playing one-day internationals he added: “It's a good thing but I'd put a caveat on that in that the ICC has got to do more to get the larger nations to play against the affiliates.”[[In-content Ad]]

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