St.David's off- spinner Delyone Borden has been drafted into the senior national cricket squad as a replacement for St.George's seamer Kyle Hodsoll who has injured his right adductor muscle.

Hodsoll is one of six national squad cricketers currently enrolled at the Brisbane Cricket Academy in Australia and had been named in Bermuda's 14-man squad that will defend their Americas Division One Championship crown in Fort Lauderdale, Florida later this month.

Borden, who claimed 16 wickets at an average of 15.88 in Premier Division limited overs cricket last season, will now share spin bowling duties in Florida with seasoned campaigner Dwayne Leverock, Tamauri Tucker, skipper Irving Romaine and Chris Douglas.

Gus Logie, the Bermuda coach, admits Hodsoll's loss is a setback to his team's Americas defence but is confident Borden can fill the void.

"It is a shame to see that Kyle is injured especially due to all the hard work he has put in whilst in Australia. However, I know his injury is being treated and I am confident that he will return to his fit condition as soon as possible.

"I am pleased that Delyone has stepped into the national team and we expect to see good things from him," the former West Indies Test player and coch said.

Bermuda will open the defence of their Americas title against Cayman Island November 25 and will also face tournament favourites USA and Canada who are also competing in the West Indies Domestic One Day Tournament that kicks off next Wednesday in Guyana.

Earlier this week Bermuda skipper Romaine remained upbeat about his team's chances of tightening their grip on the coveted Americas title they won two years ago in Toronto.

"I think if we can play good cricket in Florida we should win the Americas again," he told The Royal Gazette. "Of course teams will be gunning for us because we are the defending champions.

"But we are not going there to give anything up easily and I think the team the selectors have picked is a team that should do well.

"It's definitely going to be a little different going in as the defending champions. But we can handle our own and we have to because we are the defending Americas champions," he added.

Bermuda went undefeated on the way to a maiden Americas crown in 2006 and then relied upon hosts Canada to beat USA in their final match to secure the championship.