January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Seamer Kelly hoping to make the cut
The selectors this week named Kelly as one of eight youngsters in a 19-man training squad that will travel to Trinidad in January.
Four players must be cut from that squad before the final 15 is named for West Indies '07 on February 11 next year. And Kelly is determined to make sure he is not one of them.
"I'm trying to get back into the form I was in when I started off against Namibia. Since then I think I started thinking about it too much and put too much pressure on myself. Against Namibia I was just soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying myself."
Despite all the talk about Bermuda having an ageing and unfit squad, Kelly is one of a number of talented youngsters who has been given a chance with the national side.
He's been on a cricket scholarship at the Oakham school in Leicestershire, has trained with the County second XI and attended the ICC Cricket Academy in South Africa.
And though his performance with the ball has dipped in recent months for Bermuda, he believes he has learned a great deal from his experiences over the past year and a half.
"I'd advise any young player who gets the opportunity to go to England and play cricket. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I would never have thought I could become a professional cricketer until recently.
"But when you speak to someone like Rod Marsh (the former Australian wicket-keeper who ran both the Aussie and English cricket academies and worked with Kelly at the ICC academy in South Africa) and he tells you, you have got the talent to make it, that is very encouraging."
For Kelly the next few weeks are about working hard, working on his fitness and showing the coach and the selectors he can be an asset to the team in the World Cup.
"I'm hoping I will be in the squad. I can't say I'm 100 per cent confident but I'm just going to keep trying my best and hopefully that will be enough."
He said playing club cricket in Leicestershire and training with the county second team had helped improve his all-round game.
"I've been coming back and playing for my school as an all-rounder, fielding inside the circle and batting higher up the order.
"I hope to take that to the higher level and keep improving in every aspect of the game. I'm trying to be an all-rounder in the future for Bermuda."
Kelly, who had a tough time on the tour of Africa when he took three wickets and went for around six an over, said he had been bowling more aggressively during those games because Bermuda had needed wickets to win the matches and his economy rate had suffered as a result.
But he said he was concentrating on building up his consistency and putting the ball in the right areas more regularly.
He said he was also working on his fitness, and had missed yesterday's squad announcement because he was training at the Olympic Club
"I think I'm one of the fitter guys on the team but I still have work to do as well. I need to be able to bowl ten overs in a row without getting tired."[[In-content Ad]]
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