Manders: ‘Don’t take us lightly’

Coach Arnold Manders has targeted five group wins out of seven as Bermuda started their bid to qualify for the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in Sharjah, UAE, today.

Manders sent his side out against Scotland in Sharjah in the early hours of this morning Bermuda time looking for some early momentum.

They were helped by a spirited last-ball win over Canada in their final warm-up game in Dubai but know Scotland and second opponents Netherlands on Sunday will be tougher propositions.

“They will probably have had better preparation than us and be more professional and organized,” Manders told the Bermuda Sun. But if they underestimate us, they are in trouble.”

Overall, Manders believes his side are in increasingly good shape, although he admits the consistency of Bermuda’s bowling department remains a work in progress.

“I know we can bowl better than we did against Canada but it’s taken them a little time to get used to this level. 

“We’re playing a lot better than we were two months ago. But we’ve been stressing to the players the importance of starting well — we can’t afford to start slow.

“Both groups are difficult to predict and anybody can beat anybody — that was proved in the warm-up games when Ireland lost to Papua New Guinea and we beat Canada. But we just have to take care of ourselves and execute our game plans right.”

Manders hopes to have opener Chris Douglas back for the second game after he was ruled out of today’s game with an injury sustained during a bike accident before he flew out.

“I haven’t spoke to the player yet but he looked comfortable in the nets.” 

How it works

The top three teams from Groups A and B compete in the first place playoffs to determine the teams finishing in the top four qualifying positions. The losing two teams from this are relegated to another playoff where they compete with fourth/fifth placed teams in Group A and B for the remaining two World Cup spots. The qualifiers in total feature 72 games and 16 teams. Simple, right?