Two teams shorn of some of their most experienced cricketers will begin the long climb towards ODI status at the National Sports Centre on Monday.

For Bermuda the newly-created Intercontinental Shield is a shot at redemption, for Uganda the first steps down a road they have never been along before.

Neither side is at full strength, Bermuda have lost eight players who might otherwise have been in contention. Lionel Cann, Janeiro Tucker and Dwayne Leverock have all retired, while Stefan Kelly, Delyone Borden, Glenn Blakeney, Kyle Hodsol and George O'Brien are unavailable through injury or for personal reasons.

In come a slew of younger players, many of whom have never played a game that lasts four days.

Uganda are in much the same position, already without Kenneth Kamyuka, Joel Olweny, Junior Kwebiha, Nehal Bibodi and Nandi Kishore, they were further depleted when opening batsman Arthur Kyobe and opening bowler Daniel Ruyange were refused UK visas moments before the team were due to leave on Thursday.

Ruyange has been replaced by Under-19 star Denis Tabi who had been with the team and had gone through the visa process, but it was too late to find a replacement for Kyobe. A player less could be a key factor on a ten-day tour that will involve a four-day game, two one-day games and a Twenty20 match.

The loss of so many senior players makes it difficult to judge which way the game will go. All Bermuda skipper David Hemp knows is that his side have to get their campaign off to a winning start.

"It's a big game, it's the first in the new competition and one we obviously want to win. There aren't that many games in the Shield so we don't want to be playing catch up," he said.

"A lot of the players haven't played four-day cricket before and the main thing will be for them not to panic.

"It's a simple game, and the key is to break it down, take it ball by ball. In many ways it's easier than the one-day game, it might be tougher mentally and physically, but there is no scoreboard pressure.

"You can bat for two days if you want, you bowl to the field that you like, you bat and bowl without the kind of pressure you get in a one-day game. The key is not to panic and not to worry.

"It doesn't have to be a complicated game, you can break it up into sessions, half sessions, even take it an hour at a time. Say there are 16 overs in an hour, if there are two of you batting, that's eight overs each, so it's only 48 balls.

"If the guys give 100 percent in everything they do then that's all that matters. If you get beaten by a better team, then that's one thing, but you have to give 100 percent and they know that, that is what is expected of them."