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With the Kenya portion of their African odyssey now behind them Bermuda's national cricket squad must quickly put their disappointing performances behind them and focus on securing some positive results from their upcoming matches against Holland and Canada in South Africa. The 'North Rock Warriors' were beaten comprehensively by the Kenyans, thrashed by 79 runs, 7 wickets and 104 runs respectively in the three one-day internationals, they fared little better in the four-day Intercontinental match, skittled out for 131 in their first innings, they battled back valiantly to restrict the Kenyans to 205 but in all likelihood would have had their work cut out just to save the match let alone win it had rain not intervened.

Whatever happens in South Africa, those in authority surely face some difficult questions as Bermuda has once again failed to compete with a team ranked a tier or two above it. Earlier this year the team rather meekly capitulated to Zimbabwe and Jamaica but when one considers that the nucleus of this squad has been together since qualifying for the world cup in Ireland last year and has traveled extensively under the supervision of coach Gus Logie much more was to be expected.

Sadly there does not appear to be any discernable sign of progress made by the team between last year's triumph in Ireland and now. Despite all the talk of progress the team has not demonstrated this when provided with the opportunity - again look at the results against Zimbabwe, Jamaica and most recently Kenya.

This raises serious questions regarding the team's preparation and those at the top must answer. Why the protracted and seemingly endless contract dispute between the players and the BCB? Which to be frank went on far longer than it should have. Despite assurances to the contrary this must have had a negative impact on the players' state of mind, commitment and consequently the teams preparations.

Why the tour of England and Guernsey earlier this year? Bermuda only played one worthwhile opponent, a Sussex second eleven, the other four matches were not competitive and thus of little benefit. Surely the money wasted on that tour could have been far better spent on a trip to Barbados where Bermuda would have been afforded more challenging opposition and also greater technical assistance.

Why did coach Gus Logie fail to use the tour to the island by Trinidadian club side Clico Preysal to provide national squad players with what most must now conclude was much needed match practice? Clico included West Indies wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin and pace bowler Ravi Rampaul in their side, one would have thought that Logie would have insisted that national team players play at least three games against them instead under the guise of giving 'fringe players' an opportunity to show what they can do, national team players avoided Clico like 'the plague.' This scenario is not new in recent years Somerset Cricket Club has hosted a strong Barbados team on two occasions and both times it was clearly evident that many of our leading cricketers went missing in action, in fact in terms of leading batsmen only Clay Smith appeared willing to make himself available.

I would make three proposals to the BCB as a last ditch effort to get our world cup preparations back on track once this tour is over.

1. After Christmas but before the New Year demand a proper fitness test for all players in the squad to see if they are 'up to par'. If they are not then replace them.

2. Secure two genuine fast bowlers from the West Indies, such as Ravi Rampaul and Tino Best and possibly a couple of spinners to 'assist' the squad up to and including their participation in the World Cup.

3. Play more competitive matches, even if they must be intra-squad games before the World Cup. Too often it appears our team is going into tournaments cold, to expect them to hit the ground running so to speak is unrealistic.

I believe Bermuda can despite this late stage manage to give a good account of themselves but those at the top must act post haste![[In-content Ad]]

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