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Determined Irving Romaine is still clinging to hope that his side can come back from the dead in the Cricket World Cup Qualifiers and reach the next stage.

After two defeats in two days Bermuda are on the back foot and the usually genial skipper admitted 'I'm not smiling now.'

Visibly deflated after yesterday's 60-run defeat to Afghanistan - a loss that will rank among Bermuda's worst defeats - Romaine took solace in the fact that many of the big nations have also lost important games so far.

And with three games still to play, he stressed that Bermuda are not out yet.

"Everybody's here to win. You can't expect to go through the tournament undefeated. They were better on the day and they deserved to win.

"That's part of cricket. Sometimes you show up to play, sometimes you don't.

"They played excellently and we have to respect that.

"We are still here to play cricket. What can we do? Do you want us to lay down and say that's it?

"We've still got games to play and we can rebound from this. It's always going to be a challenge - these teams are good."

Known more for war than for cricket, Afghanistan arrived at this tournament as underdogs, in spite of a run of 20 victories to make it to this stage.

But Romaine insisted they were an excellent side and should not be underestimated by anyone.

"Don't be fooled by the name, these guys were quality players. There is no two ways about it. They put the ball in the right areas and made life hard for us."

And he admitted life was getting harder for Bermuda at this level.

"The other nations are very powerful. They've improved a lot and with some of the expats they use it makes it diffucult. We are 100 per cent Bermudian and it will always be harder for us."

Romaine said he was confident that Bermuda had its best players on the field. But he believes they will now have to show more guts to make it to the next stage.

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