Gus Logie has refuted claims Bermudian cricket is on the slide and reiterated his desire to drag the Island by its bootstraps into the dawn of an exciting new era.

While the former West Indian batsman accepts he faces an uphill challenge ensuring Bermuda re-qualifies for their current status and a place at the 2011 World Cup, he has moved to dampen some of the post-2007 World Cup criticism levelled at his team.

Last week The Royal Gazette published an article that appeared on internet site Cricinfo, suggesting Bermudian cricket was heading in the wrong direction and losing ground on the other second-tier countries.

It highlighted the alleged lack of fitness and professionalism of players who performed in Trinidad, and the supposed post-competition apathy infecting the island.

But while Logie freely admits a plethora of problems still exist in preventing him bring Bermuda cricket in-line with their Associate competitors, he is adamant the World Cup experience has had a positive knock-on effect.

“I have seen the Cricinfo article which was critical of Bermudian cricket and I don’t agree with a lot of what was written,” he said. “Sometimes people write on topics they don’t fully understand and don’t appreciate the full situation. I believe this was a case of a journalist from the outside looking in and coming to his own conclusions.

“It must be remembered that we have only just appeared in our first World Cup and we still have an amateur mentality,” he said.

“It’s impossible to make that transition to professionalism in a such a short space of time and therefore our national programme must be a long-term one.”

Logie, who played 52 Tests for the West Indies, believes the BCB must create a manifesto clearly outing how Bermuda cricket is to improve, and has called for unequivocal support from the entire cricketing fraternity to make his vision a reality.

He insists he is under no illusions of the task ahead, especially considering last month’s reported low level of senior players attending twice-weekly training sessions at the National Sports Centre.

But while the diminutive Trinidadian has voiced his disproval at some of those who failed to show, he is confident in his own ability to deliver success regardless of the constraints and limited resources that face him.

“I’m not one to voice my frustrations as I’m aware of the situation and know of the confines and restrictions I must work in,” he said. “I’m confident in my own ability to succeed and my goal will be to qualify for the World Cup in 2011.

“Currently our training headquarters at the National Sports Centre is not up to standard, and when you get thirty guys at a session and you only have two playing strips it makes life difficult.

“As a coach it demands you to improvise and that’s certainly one area where improvements could be made.

“Some of the money received from the government has gone into improving the standard of training facilities at the domestic clubs, while overseas coaches have been brought in to help raise the standard of that side of things.

“It’s true that a few a senior guys haven’t attended training sessions. They all have legitimate reasons such as family commitments, or work, but I can’t say I wholly agree with them.”

Following Bermuda’s chastening World Cup experience, which saw them lose by margins of 243 runs, 253 runs and seven wickets, the Bermuda cricket team has temporarily disbanded.

Many of the “old guard” such as Dean Minors, Clay Smith and Saleem Mukuddem have announced their retirement from the international stage, but as one door closes another opens with Logie declaring places are very much “up for grabs”.

He expects to announce the squad which will travel to Holland for the Inter-continental Cup in August at the end of this month, and has issued a “don’t train, don’t play” ultimatum.

“Since the end of the World Cup the squad has disbanded and playing contracts expired,” he said. “There is no squad at present we have simply invited players to train with us and from those we will select our squad.

“New guys will be coming in and they will need to show the right enthusiasm and commitment — we will not be bending over backwards for those who don’t train.

“I realise the difficulties players face with work commitments but employers must start to realise what it means to represent Bermuda. Maybe some players must also realise what it means to play for country and be more willing to make sacrifices.”

“We have had a taste of that level of competition and it’s had wonderful knock-on effect in attracting youngsters to the game.”