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When it comes to preparing for major tournaments there is no substitute for time in the middle.

And with the Americas Championship coming up I don't think we've had enough of it.

We've been working in the gym and in the nets but it's been months since we've played a game and we start off behind the eight-ball compared to our biggest rivals.

Canada and the U.S. have been playing in the West Indies domestic tournament.

I believe we had the opportunity to play in that tournament too but we turned it down.

I understand the reasons why. We had players in Australia, players away at school and still too many players who don't want to play for their country.

It would have been tough to send a competitive team.

But I believe time in the middle is crucial and even if we had been beaten quite badly, as Canada and the U.S. have been, I think the match practice we would have got ahead of the Americas tournament would have been worthwhile.

Canada and the U.S. may be suffering from a loss of morale after that tournament but they'll start the Americas with a big advantage over us.

The biggest problem for us is that we don't have enough players to compete in multiple tournaments. I think there are enough good cricketers in this country to do it, but they just aren't available to the national programme.

That said, if we couldn't get a squad together for the WICB Cup, I think we could have had an on-island training camp this week.

As it is we're all still at work, training in the BHS gym, and we'll just have to rely on our experience and hit the ground running when we get to Florida.

One plus is that we do have five players that have been training in Australia and we'll be relying on them to step forward and lead the team, particularly early on.

Our first games are against the weaker opposition before we get to Canada and the U.S., so hopefully we can get some game time and be ready for the big boys later in the week.

Foreign players

There's been a lot of discussion about Associate countries using foreign-born players in their teams. Canada, I believe, don't have a single Canadian born player in their side and the U.S. have got a lot of West Indians.

Personally I don't have a problem with that. If they live and work in those countries and meet the eligibility criteria they should be able to play.

We used to have a lot of really good players, like Rupert Scotland, coming in from the islands to work for the police, but we don't seem to get that anymore.

We have to focus more on youth development and producing our own players because we can't compete with the U.S. and Canada when it comes to bringing in overseas guys.

It's a point of pride for us that we're all Bermudians, but pride can only take you so far. You're judged on your results.

Prize giving

It was disappointing to see the turn-out at the Bermuda Cricket Board prize-giving at Warwick Workman's Club at the weekend.

There were only five or six clubs represented. If we can't even get players out to accept their rewards and trophies then something is wrong.

I think there were about 15 people there altogether. A lot of players didn't even show up to collect their awards.

That was pretty disappointing after the trouble the BCB went to, to put on a function like that.

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