Turks and Caicos coach Mark Harper has attributed his team's record-breaking Stanford 20/20 loss to Montserrat in Antigua earlier this week to a lack of application on the part of his players.

Turks and Caicos, who have strong historical ties with Bermuda, could only muster 69 for nine against Montserrat who went on to win the match convincingly by nine-wickets.

It was the tournament's lowest total behind British Virgin Islands (73) and a Bermuda (74) team Harper coached for three-years before being recruited by the Turks and Caicos who will now have to return to the drawing board after enduring a Stanford 20/20 baptism by fire against a team they were favoured to beat.

"I am very disappointed about our performance, we should've done better," Harper lamented. "However by not having practice matches against quality opposition the players could not respond to accurate bowling and sharp fielding.

"The soft hands singles went out the window and our judgement of second runs was poor. The players were also a bit slow running between the wickets while our field placing was off."

Harper also believes his players failed to play to their full potential.

"We are better cricketers than our showing," he said. "But when you play at a certain level and are thrown into a higer level of competition in the spotlight players sometimes find it hard to cope.

"I went into detail in every department, especially the mental aspect. But like Bermuda in 2006 the stage proved too big for the players."

Bermuda take on Harper's native Guyana, defending Stanford 20/20 champions, February 10 at the plush Stanford Cricket Ground.

"I would like to wish Bermuda a much improve performance, but I am rooting for Guyana," Harper said.