His side had just inflicted the second-biggest defeat on a team in World Cup history, but Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene was vigorously defending Bermuda’s right to compete at the World Cup yesterday afternoon.

Predictably after an almost farcically one-sided encounter at the Queen’s Park Oval, the assembled throng of journalists at the post-match press conference wasted little time in quizzing the victorious skipper about his feelings on the matter.

If they were looking for the sort of controversial views espoused by the likes of Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh in recent weeks, however, then they were to be sorely disappointed.

Holding and Walsh believe the competition has far too many teams in it (16) and that only the top one or two Associate nations (in this case Ireland and Scotland) should be allowed to qualify.

But as captain of a team who were themselves considered cricketing minnows a little over 30 years ago, but were given the opportunity to compete at the 1975 World Cup in England when most felt they should not have been there, he was genuinely supportive of Bermuda’s cause.

“As a Sri Lankan who grew up in the same sort of position as Bermuda, I can see the value of the ICC giving teams like them a chance at this level because I believe the only way they can improve is to play against the likes of us as often as possible,” said Jayawardene, who top-scored for the Sri Lankans with an elegant 85 having been let off the hook when on nought after Leverock spilled a straightforward chance at slip off seamer Saleem Mukuddem.

“What you’ve got to remember is that we were in a similar position at the 1975 World Cup when we were absolutely trashed by the likes of the West Indies and England, but then we came back in 1996 and won the whole competition.

“That would not have happened unless we had been given that opportunity back in 1975. Obviously the ICC has got to continue to monitor the performances of the Associate countries and there will have to be more investment and a good infrastructure in the schools and at clubs.

“But the more games they play at this level, the more they will improve themselves — there’s no question about that. It’s always good to have countries like Bermuda in the big tournaments. That’s how we learned and hopefully they will too.”

Asked specifically about the quality of Bermuda’s bowling having faced their attack for close to 35 overs, Jayawardene argued Bermuda had bowled well in patches despite his team racking up a mammoth total without appearing to break into much of a sweat.

“Except for one or two overs at the start I thought they put the ball in good areas and made life a bit difficult for us,” he said. “We got a bit of luck early on when I was dropped and then when the spinners bowled we had to be patient in the middle phase of the innings because it wasn’t all that easy to score freely.

“But luckily we kept wickets in hand and then could accelerate in the last ten overs. But I thought overall they bowled quite well and held on to some good catches.”

With both teams travelling to Trinidad together from the opening ceremony in Jamaica and now staying in the same hotel, the Sri Lankan skipper revealed that they’ve had quite a few opportunities to chat with the Bermuda players and give them the benefit of their far superior experience and knowledge of the game.

“We’ve been able to talk with the Bermuda players and I’m sure that will continue for a while because we’re all staying in the same hotel,” he said.

“The few times we have spoken to them they’ve been full of questions and we’ve been able to tell them about how cricket is run back in Sri Lanka, the structure of our school cricket and development programmes and things like that.

“It’s a big learning experience for them to be here so if they want to talk then we’d certainly be willing to help them and give them any advice we can. It’s important for the development of the game.”