He’s scored more than 13,000 first class runs and has stood up to some of the world’s best bowling over the course of a long and successful professional career.

But even David Hemp had to pinch himself on Monday while strolling off the Queen’s Park Oval having just scored a delightful 76 not out against the might of India — even if it came in a hopeless lost cause.

It’s no secret the Glamorgan captain went into that game under a significant amount of pressure, having struggled to make the anticipated impression with the bat in limited-overs cricket since his debut in November last year.

Despite looking far more accomplished at the crease than any of his team-mates, stats-wise his previous ODI average in the mid-20s compared unfavourably with the pros plying their trades for other Associate nations.

Indian captain Rahul Dravid, under pressure from journalists questioning why it had taken his side more than 40 overs to bowl Bermuda out, suggested after the game that Hemp had been lucky to survive out there.

And while it’s true that with the ball nipping around off the seam there was plenty of playing and missing going on and one or two streaky edges over the slips, in general it was an undisputedly fine innings by Hemp, who demonstrated considerable guts and determination in keeping cool and batting sensibly while others around him seemed painfully out of their depth.

Watching in the stands were Hemp’s wife of 11 years, Angie, as well as his five-year-old son Cameron — with the 36-year-old saying yesterday it had been a real thrill to do well in front of a family he has seen precious little of this winter.

“Obviously from a personal point of view I’m absolutely delighted to make a good score and to do it in front of my wife and my kid was extra special,” he said after a long practice session at the University of the West Indies yesterday.

“Clearly from a team perspective the result was extremely disappointing. We knew there was no way we were going to chase down 413, but as I said at the press conference after the game, as a unit I know we can bat better than that.

“When I was out there I was trying to keep things simple with the other batsmen, talking to them about how the wicket was playing and what each bowler was doing. Just little things really to try and help them overcome the magnitude of the occasion. Unfortunately it didn’t work out and it would have been nice if one or two other batsmen in the top order could’ve hung around for a bit longer.

“But yeah, to make a decent score against that quality attack and in a World Cup is just unbelievable. Everybody knows that my original ambition was to make it here through the England route. And once that didn’t work out I thought my chances were well and truly gone.

“If you’d told me five years ago that I’d be representing the country of my birth in a World Cup and then scoring a fifty against India, I’d have said you’d been smoking too much weed. It’s the sort of thing dreams are made of and I’ll treasure the moment forever.

“But it’s also important to remember that there’s one more game to go against Bangladesh. That innings against India is gone now and it’s all about preparing to perform well on Sunday.” Meanwhile, with both Dravid and former skipper Clay Smith saying in recent days that the only way for the team to improve was to play more regularly against Test-class opposition, Hemp was keen to add his perspective to the argument.

“As a batsman, the number of genuinely bad balls you receive at the top level is very small and coming from the Associate level it’s been a genuine shock to a lot of the guys,” he said.

“At the Associate level and even playing county 2nd XI cricket back in England, you’re going to get one, two, sometimes three bad balls an over which you can capitalise on. But then you turn up at the World Cup and not only are there hardly any bad balls on offer, but the skill levels of the bowlers and the pace of the bowlers are much, much higher.

“I’m better off in a sense that as a professional I’ve had the opportunity to play against decent bowling for most of my career, but even for me it has been a big step up in class at this World Cup and I’ve really had to work hard to adjust to that. But for the other boys, they’ve basically been asked to become Test-class batsmen in around four months (the length of time the squad has been full-time) and it’s just not realistic to expect them to learn how to handle Test-class bowling in such a short space of time.”

With some of the team’s senior players starting to come clean as to their post-World Cup plans, when pressed yesterday Hemp committed himself to helping Bermuda re-qualify at the 2009 ICC Trophy. And he insisted he had in no way been discouraged from continuing to represent the Island after the pummelling they have received in the course of the past ten days. “Obviously I’ll have to sit down and look at the schedule and see what games I’ll be available for,” he said. “But at this moment in time I’d love to stay involved right through until 2009, which is when my contract with Glamorgan expires as well. “We’ve had a rough time at this World Cup, but for me it’s all about helping to improve the team. There’s no disgrace in getting stuffed by the likes of Sri Lanka and India, but what we’ve got to concentrate on is becoming more consistent at an Associate level and becoming one of the best teams in that group.

“Results of late have not been too good against the other Associates and we’re all very aware that we could and should be doing better. So there’s plenty of incentive for me to stay on with Bermuda, but obviously I’ll have to justify my inclusion by being a little bit more consistent with the bat as well.

“I won’t be available for all the cricket leading up to 2009, but I’ll doing everything I can to help the team do well.”