Bermuda's senior national cricket squad will travel to Jamaica for vital practice matches in the lead-up to February's Stanford 20/20 spectacle in Antigua, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

The squad, currently preparing for the upcoming commitment in the Caribbean under the supervision of interim coach Herbie Bascome, is due to depart for Jamaica February 1 to play two practice matches against local opposition before arriving in Antigua to take on defending Stanford 20/20 champions Guyana February 7.

During their previous Stanford 20/20 appearance, televised live throughout the Caribbean, Bermuda were skittled out for a paltry 74 and next year will face an even more daunting task against a Guyana side bolstered by the inclusion of West Indies Test pair Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, should the injured Windies skipper be declared fit to play.

Yet inspite of the enormity of the task coach Bascome feels that with the proper mental approach, sacrifice and commitment, Bermuda can achieve success against Guyana next February.

He said: "A Twenty20 cricket match is a give and go affair and it's not always the strongest team that wins because at the end of the day it all boils down to decision making, a little bit of luck and how much you really want to play.

"So it's all there for the taking and I don't see where we are not talented enough to achieve some degree of success, either as a team or individually. I think we have a great chance to achieve success but at the end of the day that all depends on the level of commitment the players want to make."

Bascome now has just over five weeks to prepare the squad in the absence of national coach Gus Logie who is currently assisting with the Under-19s World Cup preparations. And the veteran St. George's cricketer made it perfectly clear that none of the players chosen last week to train for the Island's Stanford 20/20 squad have been guaranteed a place in the final squad of 13 that will travel to Jamaica and Antigua early in the new year.

Bascome also stressed that only those fully committed to the cause need apply.

"As a young coach I think we have to look at a new era of commitment, both physically and mentally, and if players have other commitments outside of the game then they have to raise their hand and let the country know, let the Board know and myself as a coach know that they cannot commit themselves because that's what it's going to take to move Bermuda cricket forward," he added. "If you have family or work commitments and you cannot make the necessary sacrifices or commitment to training then you have to let people know because there are others out there who don't have the same commitments who are willing to do the job instead.

"In this day in age we can't continue to be dumbfounded or stuck with players who have talent but because of work commitments can't make training yet are still picked to represent their country. We just can't continue to go that route. Instead we need to go the route where players are going to make the necsssary sacrifice, get their private and personal lives in order and do whatever it is they have to do.

"We just can't continue to pacify players anymore because it's a new era of commitment and either you want to be committed to this programme or you don't. And honestly speaking I don't think there's much difference between us and our fellow Associate rivals. I think the only difference is the level of application that we are willing to give, which to me has been the biggest thing we have lacked that has hindered our ability to achieve some degree of success."