January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Who deserves a World Cup place?
An announcement is expected early next week when BCB Chief Executive Neil Speight returns to the island.
In a special feature today we publish the year-end stats for every player who has turned out for Bermuda in its major international competitions this year.
The figures suggest that several should be concerned for their places.
And as the announcement approaches, speculation abounds at home and abroad as to who will make the final cut.
It comes on the heels of a year that featured mixed fortunes. Bermuda did win the Americas Division of the World Cricket League, but that was one of the few bright spots.
The year started with five straight losses to UAE teams and finished with six One Day International losses out of seven in the recently concluded Africa tour.
In a column on the influential world cricket website CricInfo, site editor Martin Williamson delivered a damming verdict on the current squad saying it was "too late to salvage anything in time for the World Cup."
Williamson's column, titled Face Reality and Bite the Bullet recommended a radical overhaul of the personnel.
He went on to suggest that Bermuda should send a team of young players to the tournament and give them the experience for the future.
Of the current squad he elaborates: "They have repeatedly underperformed, have shown little sign that they are prepared to try to reach the required levels of fitness to play the level they aim for, and seem to have started going backwards. In short, they lack the physical and mental toughness needed to succeed."
Clarence Parfitt expressed similar views in the Royal Gazette yesterday, while coach Gus Logie has expressed frustration at the apparent lack of improvement from his charges.
Everyone has an opinion on who should be in the final 15. The cold hard stats, though, tell us that the older guys have consistently out performed their younger rivals.
It may all be relative, but it seems unlikely that the selectors will have chosen to 'bite the bullet' at this stage.
Coach Logie seemed to recognize that in an interview with the Bermuda Sun last week, during which he stood by Clay Smith, one of the 'under-fire' older players, and insisted he wanted him in the squad.
"He's a tough competitor and he's an integral part of the team. I'm going to back him all the way to make it."
And he hinted that the bulk of the squad that had suffered in Africa, would be given the chance to put things right when the side return to the continent for the World Cricket League next month.
"We were given quite a lot of lessons on this tour and it is up to us to learn from them. "All of us have experienced challenging times but we have an opportunity to put things right.
"It's up to the individuals to make the changes they need to make and show they are prepared to make the sacrifices to succeed."
It's all guesswork, though, until the squad is finally announced next week. But, just for fun, here's our best guess as to who will be on the plane to Trinidad.
Team: Irving Romaine (capt), Clay Smith (vice-captain), Janeiro Tucker, Dean Minors, Lionel Cann, Kevin Hurdle, Dwayne Leverock, David Hemp, Delyone Borden, OJ Pitcher, Saleem Mukuddem, Ryan Steede, Hasan Durham, Malachi Jones, Kwame Tucker
Alternates: Stephen Outerbridge, Stefan Kelly, Arthur Pitcher jnr
To read Martin Williamson's CricInfo blog or to post a response visit http://blogs.cricinfo.com/btw/archives/2006/12/face_reality_an.php
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