Lionel Cann has retired from international cricket after Bermuda’s relegation to Division Four of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League.

Disillusioned with the Island’s dismal showing at the Division Three tournament in Malaysia and “with nothing more in the tank”, the batsman made the decision to quit shortly after the team’s loss to Singapore which virtually sealed their fate.

“I made the decision while we were out there, once we knew we were going down,” Cann said. “It’s time to force the youngsters to come out and play, I’ve held on as long as I possibly could. My tank is empty, but I’m still in good shape and I can still play but there are other things I want to do.”

Cann, 42, said that the team’s problems started long before the team arrived in Malaysia, with poorly attended training sessions hindering preparations for the tournament.

Relegation, he said, was not a surprise, though it has still been a bitter pill for him to swallow.

“For us to even stay up would have been an incredible feat, we started training in August and there were only four guys out, the worst I’ve ever seen,” Cann said.

“And the four guys training were the senior guys. At any given point up to the time we left we had six guys training.”

Cann said that it emerged on the trip that nothing had been set up for the British-based players to train prior to joining the team in Malaysia.

“When we got on tour, we found out that these guys weren’t doing any training and weren’t being coached. That was the final burden for me to say it’s definitely time [to retire],” Cann said.

“I’m committed, I’m passionate, I’m giving 100 per cent to training but obviously things weren’t put in place for the youngsters to maximise their talent.

“The other countries are already so far ahead of us with cricketers who have played at the first-class level.

“It was a tour made for disaster right from the beginning. There were some things on the tour that weren’t being done that made me decide I didn’t want to waste my time, sacrificing my family when the help isn’t there from players who don’t want to play for their country.

“Six weeks before we left I felt there was a possibility we would go down to Division Four, but if we pulled off a miracle we could stay in [Division] Three. I knew we couldn’t go up to [Division] Two, not with just four guys training. It was a suicide mission.”

In Malaysia, Cann had scores of 16, 2, 51 and 2 before the three senior players (himself, captain Janeiro Tucker and Del Hollis) were left out for the final two matches of the tournament, effectively signalling the start of the shift towards youth.

“I just want to say thanks to all the cricketers I played with and against, the fans and a special thanks to my wife, Gina, because people don’t know the sacrifices players go through with training and travelling,” Cann said.

“I’d also like to thank my employers Saltus [Grammar School] who always allowed me time off to travel and always supported Bermuda cricket, and even my work colleagues who had to cover for me when I was away.”

Cann plans to continue playing league cricket next season — his coaching contract with Warwick Workma n’s Club has expired but he is keen to have it renewed — and hopes to play one more year in Cup Match before retiring at Wellington Oval.

He said that he was disappointed that Bermuda cricket has not progressed since the country qualified for the 2007 World Cup. Along with captain Janeiro Tucker, Cann was the surviving member from that 2005 qualifying team in Ireland and he believes that now is the time to rebuild the national programme with those players based in England and other senior players in the 20 to 30 age group, who are willing to make the commitment.

Cann acknowledges that returning to Division Two in the next few years will be a difficult task for Bermuda, with other associate teams getting stronger and stronger.

“It takes at least four years of international cricket to start making your mark,” he stressed. Look at the top players in Bermuda last year, people like [Terryn] Fray and [Tre] Manders who were good at domestic level, but international you could see how exposed they were because it takes time.

“We’re at rock bottom and will only drop further if we don’t sit up and pay attention. It’s been three years now that I’ve seen a decline in players coming out to train.

“You can’t compare the glory days of 2005 and 2007 World Cup to now because you had guys who had 20 years of experience at international cricket, half the team was married and were mature cricketers.

“It was our turn to qualify for the World Cup but really our cricket in Bermuda wasn’t at that high level to sustain it. The standard we play now is Division Four cricket.”

After playing under Bermuda coaches Gus Logie, of Trinidad, and Australia’s David Moore, Cann thinks going back to an overseas coach may be the solution.

“Bermudians don’t respect their own and local coaches may be good in Bermuda but the international game is a different level,” he said.