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Irving Romaine has won his fitness battle and will lead Bermuda in their one-day-international series against Kenya, which starts in Mombasa tomorrow.

Romaine, who missed the drawn Intercontinental Cup clash with Kenya suffering from a groin strain picked up at the ICC Academy in South Africa, came through a training session on Wednesday and is itching to get out and play.

And he said he had been nagging physio Craig Brown to let him start on Saturday.

"I'm trying for the weekend. I batted today (Wed) and I feel pretty good. The physio has a different view - he wants me to rest as long as possible but I think I will play.

"I picked up the injury in the last week at the academy. It was very frustrating - I would rather have been injured in the first week and been fit for Bermuda.

"I really want to play on Saturday and I think I am fit."

And coach Gus Logie indicated that Romaine would get his wish, saying he was confident the batsman would be able to take over the reins from Clay Smith at the weekend.

Romaine has been Bermuda's most consistent performer with the bat this year, averaging…. in the Americas' tournament and ,, in one-day internationals.

His inclusion is a massive boost as Bermuda looks to recover from a disappointing batting performance in the four-day match.

But Romaine said there was enough skill and experience in Bermuda's batting line-up to recover from the shaky start.

"We've got even more experience now with David Hemp coming into the side. I've been talking to him and he's been giving some valuable advice. He's settled in to the squad really well.

"With Hemp there I know the number four slot is not guaranteed as mine, so I may have a different role to play. I was actually tried out as an opener at the academy, which was a new experience, but I don't think I'll be playing there for Bermuda.

"We have a strong middle-order and if we play to our potential we should beat them. The first day was a slow start but once we got into it the confidence started to grow.

"Once Tikolo was out we swept through them. He's definitely the man to get. They look up to him and when he gets out their heads drop. We'll definitely be targeting him."

He said that he knew four of the Kenyan players, who had trained with him at the ICC High Performance Centre in South Africa in the lead up to the tour.

"I think they only really have one experienced seamer and a lot of young guys. We are going to try to win every game. That's the outlook we have to take but we feel we match up well to the Kenyans."

He said the key now was for the players to switch from the four-day mentality to the one-day mindset.

"The hardest part is switching between the two in the space of a few days. It's a different game. Balls you were leaving outside off stump, you have to hit them through the covers. You have to keep the scoreboard moving."[[In-content Ad]]

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