“WE know what we’re up against — the only thing you can ask is the players put their best foot forward and do the country proud.”That is the wish of chairman of the Bermuda cricket selectors and former national team captain, Arnold Manders, ahead of this month’s World Cup in the West Indies.

Manders knows the magnitude of Bermuda’s task as they take on Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh in their group. Sri Lanka, formerly an Associate member, and India are both former World Cup champions, while Bangladesh are slowly starting to find their feet against the Test teams after a difficult step-up from Associate members to full Test status. Bermuda have much to do to suggest they’ll be anything but ‘easy beats’ in the six-week-long tournament.

“No one is expecting them to go down and beat Sri Lanka and India but we expect them to give a good account of themselves,” Manders stated this week.

“Our strength is supposed to be our batting and yet we still have guys getting out in the 20s, 30s and 40s, whereas other teams like Kenya and Scotland and Ireland all seem to have batsmen who, when they get set, go on straight to the end and score hundreds. With us that is not happening, which is why we always end up on the short end of the stick.

Bermuda have been on a losing streak in warm-up matches since being the first team to arrive in the Caribbean, losing to Antigua and Barbuda and then Bangladesh and Canada in a triangular tournament. Lessons are being learned, but a lot slower than coach Gus Logie would have hoped.

“In the game against Canada we didn’t score enough runs and then we didn’t field as well as we had to,” said Manders.

“We kept ourselves in the game but we could have won it with better fielding. We never seem to get it all together at one time (bowling, batting and fielding). They need to be consistent in all three parts. Actually there is a fourth part — mental — and if they go there and give up then we shouldn’t even be in the tournament. And that’s what most of the first class countries are saying, that the ICC Associates shouldn’t be in the World Cup.

“Bermuda will now be scrutinised. These guys have got us there and they need to make sure that these younger players coming through still have a chance. They’ve had meetings with the board, a meeting with the Minister (of Youth and Sport) and everybody has let them know what is expected of them.”Manders and another selector, Lionel Thomas, will be going to the West Indies to support the team along with a contingent of local spectators, although recent reports suggest the numbers are not as high as anticipated. Expectations remain high, however, even though Bermuda will be up against some of the best cricketers in the world.

“I don’t like to make excuses for them but we’re playing with a pool of 15, 16 players and they have been playing (virtually non-stop) since qualifying and that will take the wear and tear out of anybody,” Manders stressed.

“Look at Australia and the other teams getting injuries, players breaking down. I’m on the internet now and looking at Pakistan who have just lost two players. And these countries have a bigger pool of players to pick from. I keep stressing it, Bermuda is a small country with 60,000 people. Some of those other countries have more than 60,000 cricketers!”

Qualifying for the World Cup has taken Bermuda’s cricket to new heights and with major funding from Government and a new vision, the rebuilding of cricket from the youth level has already begun. Manders is working with his brother Andre and Clevie Wade in preparing the Under-19 team for the Sir Garfield Sobers Tournament and Youth World Cup qualifying this summer.

“We have Under-19 players who should be going down there (World Cup) but have given up,’ said Manders.

“Attitude is another thing. We’re trying to work with the Under-19s and trying to get them in that frame — a professional attitude where everything they do is done with something in mind, a goal at the end. They have bought into it and I’m pretty pleased.”

Two of the players from this age group, Malachi Jones and Stefan Kelly, seized their opportunity and are now about to compete in the World Cup. Rodney Trott was also in contention and he and Oronde Bascome represent the next crop expected to break through into the senior team.

“We got two in the World Cup squad and could have had three if Rodney had kept his socks up,” said the coach and selector.

“They need to take advantage of it.”

Manders revealed it is hoped to have the Under-19s play in the Premier League in the one day format this summer, but a final decision has not been made. It was something that happened 10 years ago when the youth team played in the First Division in the buildup to the International Youth Tournament in 1997.

“The board agrees but now you’ve got clubs complaining that they should play for their clubs,” Manders stated.

“If we get them to play in the league, then we go to the Sobers tournament and then a week later we go to the qualifying for the World Cup, if we stay fit and nobody fails a drug test I think we have a good chance of qualifying for the Junior World Cup in Malaysia (in January).”

Manders feels that with the experience the younger players will get from the World Cup, “the future looks good”.

“They need to buy into the programme, the whole team concept,’ he stressed.

‘And that’s why a lot of players are missing, because that was something they found hard to do. At that level it has to be a team concept, it’s not about ‘me’, it’s about us.”

Manders: Bermuda will be scrutinised