Confident and with a renewed sense of self-belief, Bermuda’s cricketers will take on Canada today in the first of a four-match one-day series also involving Holland, eager to build on the record-shattering performance that dashed Dutch hopes in last week’s Intercontinental Cup clash.

Spurred by David Hemp’s unbeaten double-century (247) and a tournament record total of 620, as well as superb performances from the likes of opener Stephen Outerbridge (80), Saleem Mukuddem (90) and tailender Dwayne Leverock (51), the team emerged with a “winning” draw, having secured first innings points.

And today at the delightful Sedgars Park, 65 miles south of Johannesburg, they’ll be desperate to translate that form to success in the shorter version of the game.

Having beaten Canada in a one-day clash last August on their way to lifting the Americas regional crown, the players will believe they have the edge.

And as for tomorrow’s second game against Holland, skipper Clay Smith says they could also go into that game with a psychological advantage.

“I don’t know whether prior to the four-day game Holland had too much respect for us, but now I’m sure we’ve gained their respect,” said Smith.

“I’m sure our players will be confident, hopefully to the point where we can enjoy some more success.”

Looking back on last week’s result in Pretoria, Smith said the draw actually felt like a victory.

“It was a great overall performance by our players,” said the captain. “I felt over the last couple of months we’ve been under a lot of pressure, through the media and different things — Cricinfo (cricket website) haven’t been very kind.

“So this match was about character building, and I think the players showed some character and we performed to the potential that we always knew we had.

“Confidence, that’s what it was about, getting our batsmen in form. If you look at it, we scored 600 runs and four of our top batsmen didn’t even perform, so that says a lot about our line-up.

“David Hemp was just phenomenal, there’s no other word for it. He’s come in and added some professionalism to the team and hopefully the other players will piggy back off him.”

Smith also had praise for tailenders Leverock and Kevin Hurdle (29).

“They’ve shown in the past that they have the potential, and coming out here where the wickets are really, really good, they capitalised on the opportunity.

“We had a team goal of getting the highest score in the competition of 588, and both of those guys applied themselves and supported Hemp to the finish and I’m very proud of them.” Whether Smith himself plays in today’s one-day opener against Canada remains to be seen with a number of players carrying niggling injuries and coach Gus Logie unlikely to name his side until this morning.

Smith missed the three one-dayers against Kenya earlier on tour, but showed no ill-effects last week from the injuries that have curtailed his activity for much of this season.

One definite addition to the team should be one-day specialist Lionel Cann, who appears to have recovered from the knock he suffered in the nets prior to the Intercontinental Cup match, while Ryan Steede, who also missed the four-day game, could be recalled as well.

Rodney Trott and Hurdle could be the two players who will have to make way.Notebook: Page 19