On the eve of the biggest game in Bermuda’s cricket history, national coach Gus Logie yesterday again urged his players to have faith in their own ability and disregard the reputations of the World Cup superstars.

At 10.30 this morning the boys in blue, red and white will walk out onto the famed Queen’s Park Oval here in Port of Spain to face a Sri Lanka side stacked with individual talent — one which many believe can repeat their startling triumph of 1996.

With players such as mercurial spinner Muttiah Muralitharan among their ranks, they’re expected to dominate Bermuda in every department of the match.

But Logie said it was crucial that his players didn’t play the ‘name game’.

“You can talk about the stars as much as you want, I think individual technique will have to win out in the end, I think one’s own confidence will be key, and at the end of the day players cannot be overawed.

“They can’t be star struck, they have to go out there and play their natural game,” Logie told a gathering of journalists on the same Oval ground where he first rose to fame with the West Indies.

“We’ve talked about the mental approach, we’ve talked about the basics, keeping it simple. If we can go out there tomorrow (today) and bowl a limited amount of extras, field well, take the catches, I think we’ll be quite happy at the end of the day.”

Logie said because Bermuda had no individual stars, the emphasis had to be on team effort and team unity.

“We have no particular strength in any area,” he said. “We don’t have 90-miles-an-hour bowlers, we don’t have batsmen who can go out there and take an attack apart, but we do have quality players.” And noting that cricket was an unpredictable game, he said he’d “learned a long time ago, you can’t predict the future”.

“You can have all the game plans you want and it can come to nothing out there, so I think the least expectation, the least pressure put on the players to set targets, to achieve targets, the better.

“It’s not going to be relevant as far as we’re concerned.

“Of course, we do have our own game plan, we do have our own strategies but it’s up to individuals to go out there, unite and play as well as they can.”

With Bermuda still listed as 5,000-1 outsiders, the biggest odds ever offered for a team in the World Cup finals, Logie again vigorously defended his side’s right to compete alongside the Test nations.

“I think it’s important for the game for teams like Bermuda to be here,” he added. “We’ve seen already in our two warm-up games that one of our players (Dwayne Leverock) is larger than life and everybody’s been talking about him for different reasons. But the fact of the matter is that he’s bowled pretty well and if he can do that in the next few days, I’m certain the world will be talking about him again.

“If two or three players can come out in this World Cup and shine above the ordinary, I think it will be well worth it. We’ve seen it in the past with John Davison of Canada, you know people are still talking about his World Cup hundred. We’ve seen it with other teams so, hey, why not Bermuda? I think we can produce a good enough display that people will still be talking about us after the World Cup.”

Looking out over the ground as an army of workers continued to apply the finishing touches in readiness for today’s match when a crowd of several thousand is expected, Logie agreed the improvements were impressive.

“It certainly looks a beauty,” he said. “It’s always been a beauty, I’ve always had a good time here playing in front of the home crowd. I just hope tomorrow and the next few days will be no different.

“I heard someone call this the Group of Death, but there’s only two teams going through and anything is possible on the day . . . divine intervention, rain could fall, Duckworth-Lewis, anything could happen, but whatever happens I think we’ll see good cricket.

“We are minnows, rank outsiders, all I want from my players is to be confident in their own ability, to go out there and do the best that they can and if they do that whatever the outome, I’ll be happy.”

Asked what the mood would be like back in Bermuda as today’s game got underway, skipper Irving Romaine told reporters: “I guess everybody’s going to be anxious.

‘I don’t think there’ll be too much work done on the Island once the game begins.

“Hopefully it will last the full length of the work day and we’ll put up a good showing.”

And the jovial early order bat said it was “just as big an occasion for the country as it was for the players”.

“We’re here to enjoy the moment and do the best we can. We had followers who came down on a charter flight yesterday and they’re here to enjoy the occasion the same way we are.

“It’s overwhelming for everybody. They expect a lot from us (back home) but they know now we’re playing the best in the world. We’ve already conquered the Americas but some fans automatically think we can just jump to the next level . . . it’s not that easy.

“All we’re trying to do is earn some respect and play some good cricket.

“Everybody in this team dreamed of this while playing tennis-ball cricket in the back yard. We strived for this, we got here and now it’s reality.

“We’ve planned, we’ve prepared as well as we could, we’ve prayed a lot and at the end of the day we hope and pray that our ability sees us through.”