'We made the same mistakes'

Legendary cricketer Clarence Parfitt says Bermuda is paying the price for a stagnant senior national programme.

After qualifying for a maiden World Cup at the 2005 ICC Trophy in Ireland, Cup Match’s all-time leading wicket taker said rebuilding the senior national team should have taken top priority.

Parfitt said the decision to soldier on with a core group of players in the twilight of their careers highlighted a lack of long-term vision and is now taking its toll on the senior national programme.

“When we got in (2007 World Cup) I felt that was the time to rebuild for the next one. But we didn’t rebuild, we just stuck with the same players and made the same mistakes,” he told the Bermuda Sun.

“If you don’t rebuild then you have no future and every country has gone ahead except us. All those Asian and African countries are coming like mad like Afghanistan, which came from out of nowhere.

“It seems as though too much money has taken over everyone’s thoughts rather than the cricket.”

Too big

Earlier this year Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) unveiled its new national academy structure for grassroots cricketers.

Yet while Parfitt applauds the BCB’s efforts he feels such an endeavour is long overdue.

“They (BCB) should’ve been looking at that a long time ago. If they had put some of the millions they got from government into developing academies we may have been further ahead.”

Bermuda cricket suffered a massive body blow after the senior national team was relegated to the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division Three in the United Arab Emirates last week.

Bermuda finished bottom of the pile with a dismal 1-5 record, with their sole win of the tournament coming against Hong Kong.

Parfitt said the players must take responsibility for their failure rather than make excuses.

He added: “A lot has to do with the players’ mentality. They score runs one day and think they are God, and then can’t score any more runs. Or they take wickets one day and none the next and blame everybody but themselves.

“Unfortunately, the players seem to have gotten too big for themselves and our cricket has gone backwards rather than forward.”

Parfitt said local cricket clubs must also share some of the blame for Bermuda’s demise in senior international cricket.

“The clubs are set in their ways and it’s not about the clubs, it’s about Bermuda and we are all failing to understand that. It’s Bermuda that counts, and not the clubs.”

With the right mindset and proper direction Parfitt believes Bermuda can once again be a reckoning force at the senior international level. He also insists national coach David Moore is the right man for the job.

“The coach seems to have things going the right way. He seems to be very strict. He’s not taking any nonsense from anybody, which is what it should be.

“The man has experience and has a job to do, and is doing it to the best of his ability.”