Bermuda (2pts) 282-6, beat Argentina (0pts) 116, by 166 runs.

Welcome back Janeiro Tucker.

A year after walking away from international cricket, Tucker returned in style on Saturday. Argentina are probably wishing he hadn't.

The Southampton Rangers batsman destroyed the South American side with a batting display so brutal in its efficency that it took the breath away.

Ball after ball sailed out of the Sea Breeze Oval during the course of Tucker's blistering 136-run knock, which came off just 97 balls.

And the image of opposition fielders scrambling around in the bushes at Bailey's Bay to find a ball summed up the innings. They had to go and find them in the bushes, because the rest were in the sea and towards the end the umpires kept running out of balls for Argentina's bowlers to use.

Tucker hit 15 sixes in all on Saturday and of his 136 runs, 114 came in boundaries.

Eventually third umpire Kent Gibbons was reduced to scratching around in the Bailey's Bay clubhouse to find any ball he could. Not that it mattered what state the ball was in, they all ended up getting the same treatment.

No less impressive was Irving Romaine's rather more sedate innings of 77 and even he got in on the fun later on, hitting seven sixes of his own. The pair put on 186 for the fifth wicket, starting slowly as they rescued their side from the perilous position of being 33 for four.

Towards the end, however, they were dispatching the Argentina bowlers with such ruthlessness that the pair racked up 72 runs in the five power play overs from the 39th to 43th over.

When Tucker went for another big six, and instead holed out to Matias Paterlini on the boundary, Bermuda were 219 for five and the opposition were shell-shocked.

"It was nice, to get a feel for the bat, to hit the ball as clean as I did, and just to be back in the team," said Tucker afterwards. "The wicket wasn't playing as good, it was still sticking early and I just told Iriving 'let's just try and hang around, pick up the ones and twos, and wait till it dries out a little more and then we can have some fun once it dries out '.

"At one stage I just thought if the ball was in my slot I was going to take it and enjoy myself. Coming off my knee injury, I didn't know how it would be, running between the wickets. But it's coming along pretty good, but the ball was there to be put away, so I put it away."

Tucker is likely to get a rest today for the game against Cayman Islands when Bermuda will be aiming to win their third match in a row. The Rangers batsman is still not yet 100 percent fit after undergoing knee surgery over the winter and Bermuda are keen to rest him before their big game against USA tomorrow.

"Yeah, we're looking to see how I feel in the next day or so, and then see how I feel Monday," said Tucker after the win over Argentina. "That (the Cayman game) might be a rest day for me because we've got United States on Tuesday, because I probably want to come back fresh then. That little break will do me good."

On this evidence Cayman won't be too unhappy if he does take a rest but they will still have to contend with a Bermuda team that improved in every area of the game on Saturday.

Once Argentina's opening bowlers Gary Savage and Lucas Paterlini had made the most of winning the toss and bowling first on a dampish wicket, Bermuda fought back through Tucker and Romaine, and then dominated with the ball.

Jordan DeSilva took two wickets in the first over of the Argentina reply and despite some brief resistance from Donald Forrester (43), the South American side were always in trouble.

Jim West was the pick of the Bermuda bowlers, taking four wickets for just 11 runs as the visitors were dismissed for just 116 runs.

"At 30 odd for four it was hard going, but it goes without saying that Janeiro with the big hundred, and Irving, whose innings shouldn't be underestimated, saved us," said Bermuda skipper David Hemp. "They complemented each other, they knuckled down at a crucial time of the game, and that's the pleasing thing for me.

"We were in trouble, they (Argentina) had their tails up but they (Tucker and Romaine) rode the storm out well, and it shows, if you can get through that, and absorb that pressure, you can come out the other side.

"And they did, they played exceptionally well, and struck the ball well once they got in, and helped us post a good total.

"I go on about it, but experienced players, that's why they are so valuable to the team. Because they can pull it out of the bag and they've done it today. And the other pleasing thing for me is the way we bowled.

"We bowled aggressively, we got the ball in good areas consistently, we didn't bowl many four balls and we cut down on our extras. So all in all it was a really good performance.

"We took the momentum from the batting into the bowling, which showed, getting Argentina behind the eight ball from the start, and it made it difficult for them to get back into the game."

n See live coverage of today's Bermuda match against Caymans on www.royalgazette.com.