The age-old cricketing adage that "catches win matches" haunted Bermuda's national team as they succumbed to an historic first-ever defeat by Cayman Islands in the Americas Cup yesterday.

In what was perhaps the national side's lowest score, Bermuda managed a mere 59 runs when asked to bat by the opposition in the first round of the rain-affected tournament being held in Argentina.

However, as far as coach Mark Harper was concerned, that was not the worst aspect.

"We made 59 but that's not the bad part. They made 60 for six but we dropped six simple catches. They should have made about 30 runs. The dropped catches really hurt us," he said, sounding dejected as he spoke from his hotel last night.

As an example of how much more gripping the match could have been, the Caymans went to lunch on 17 for three, replying to the Bermudian total, but had some catches not gone a-begging that could have been "something like 12 for five," according to the coach.

Butter fingers continued to plague the Bermudians after the break and, in the end, they crashed to defeat by four wickets.

In Bermuda's innings, Dennis Archer and Dwayne Leverock shared the highest score of just eight apiece. Captain Charlie Marshall failed to get off the mark.

Archer also featured with the ball, snagging four for 21 off ten overs with two maidens. Leverock and Herbie Bascome each took a wicket.

Harper said that though three successive days of rain - which delayed the competition's start - contributed to unsuitable pitch conditions, his players should have given a better account of themselves.

"It was a very bad wicket. The pitch was green and soft. It was wet and the ball was flying all over the place - lifting awkwardly off a good length - but I still think we did not bat as well as we were capable of playing on it. The combination of a difficult pitch and our shot selection contributed to us making such a small total," he said.

"The conditions were trying but I'm not making any excuses. I still felt we could have done much better than that."

Looking at the positives, he applauded Archer's bowling and noted that Bermuda did create a number of chances though failing to capitalise on them.

"We have to learn to cope with pressure," he acknowledged.

The team, Harper added, held a meeting at the ground after they lost, with every member advancing reasons for the demise.

"Obviously we focused on the areas that needed to be addressed. The guys were pretty upset about today's performance.

"I stressed that we have four games left and we've got to try and lift our game.

"I've told them that it's not going to be the hard, fast tracks that they're used to. It's going to be green and pretty slow so we have to make the necessary adjustment to be competitive.

"We're looking forward to tomorrow's game and the rest of the tournament," said the coach.

Bermuda face the Bahamas today and Canada tomorrow. They play the United States on Friday and finish their campaign against the host nation on Saturday.