March 8, 2013 at 2:40 p.m.
Bermuda skipper Outerbridge 'ready to lead'
Bailey’s Bay batsman Outerbridge took over from David Hemp in October and is bracing himself for a busy period of international cricket.
The ICC Regional T20 qualifying in Florida on March 18 is quickly followed by the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 tournament here in Bermuda from April 28, two events that will test the 29-year-old’s captaincy skills.
Australian Moore, who recently agreed a three-month extension to his contract, said: “Steven’s been ready to lead for a while, there’s no doubt about that.
“I think Steven is certainly a leader. He’s done well with his club side — it’s a bit different being national team captain of course, there’s more going on in the game if you like, but he’s ready.
“He’s got good support among the senior players, all very good and knowledgable. Also, hopefully, because you’ve got the better players in the team, they should be able to run themselves as well.”
Outerbridge missed the recent tour to Barbados because of work commitments, a trip Moore believes gave head coach Arnold Manders an opportunity to assess where the team is at ahead of a busy period.
Moore said: “The Barbados tour came at a good time for Arnold, Clevie Wade the assistant coach and the players to be able to make an assessment of where we’re at and what we need to do.
“The results when you go to these places aren’t always the focal point. It’s a process we have to go through to get where we want to be.
“There are a couple of things we spoke about with regards to strike rates and our bowling line and lengths that certainly need to be addressed.
“But we need to finish in the top two in that tournament. The fact that us and the USA should go through you can never guarantee because you’ve got Suriname, Cayman Island and Bahamas that on their day can knock off any of the other teams because of the shortness of the game.
“So we’ll certainly need to be on our best behaviour to get through.”
Moore believes the raw talent in some of the country’s young cricketers is as good as anywhere else in the world – and he believes the island should be aiming for the top Associate division.
“I don’t think it’s beyond the realms of possibility that we could be in division one in Associate cricket. It’s certainly possible. The talent is there.”
He added: “The big one for us is the Division III tournament, obviously if we get into Division II we’re back in the World Cup qualifying programme, which is where you really want to be.”
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