Clay Smith admitted yesterday that he had expected to be dropped for the game against India after a wretched run of form with the bat over the past couple of months.

Speaking less than 24 hours after Bermuda’s mammoth 257-run defeat at the Queen’s Park Oval in their second World Cup game, the former skipper said he had “no intention” of making any excuses for his lacklustre performances of late — though his frustration at being pushed to the sidelines was clearly evident.

The Cleveland player-coach was dismissed for a duck in the opening match against Sri Lanka off only the fifth ball of the innings — though replays suggested that Chaminda Vaas’ inswinger which struck the opener on the pads could well have been missing leg stump.

“There’s no two ways about it, I’ve been under-performing and deserved to be dropped,” said Smith, who like the rest of the players was given a complete day off yesterday by the team management.

“We’ve got a squad of 15 out here and there is a lot of competition for places in the starting XI — so if you don’t score runs as a batsman, it’s likely you’ll be left out.

“Both now when I talk to my players at Cleveland and when I was captain of the national side, I’ve always told players that it’s up to the individual to make sure that your performances force your selection.

“Nobody has an automatic right to be in the team and in my case I just wasn’t delivering the required results.

“It’s aggravating for sure because I’m feeling in pretty good nick at the moment, both in the nets and out in the middle. But for one reason or another I just haven’t been able to convert that form into runs.

“I’m in the middle of a pretty bad patch, but these sort of things happen to all batsmen and it is just a question of being patient and continuing to work hard.

“It’s unfortunate really, because people like myself and Irving (Romaine) have been the guys consistently scoring runs over the past two years, but now the World Cup is here and both of us are struggling.

“It’s not an ideal situation by any means, but that is cricket for you.” Coming into the World Cup, Smith’s preparations were severely disrupted by death and illness in his family.

But he refused to blame his barren spell on those difficulties, claiming they had served to further motivate him.

“I think the adverse affect those things have had on me have been somewhat exaggerated,” he said.

“Obviously the timing’s not been ideal, but if anything it’s made me even more determined to try and do well and make my family and the country proud.”

Reflecting on the team’s performance against India, Smith thought some of the top-order batsmen should have stuck around longer in support of David Hemp — who made 76 not out.

However he defended the team’s bowling display, insisting there was little any member of the attack could have done in the face of such a brutal and relentless onslaught as India eventually racked up a World Cup record 413 for five.

“We came up against a highly-motivated team who had a lot to prove and they came at us very, very hard,” he said.

“They were under a huge amount of pressure to win and make a big score after losing to Bangladesh and though it was great to start the way we did with Malachi (Jones) taking a wicket with his first ball, once their batsmen got going we just couldn’t do anything about it.

“Their batsmen are phenomenal, world-class players and what you’ve got to remember is that they have scored 350-plus on numerous occasions against the very best sides in the world.

“So our bowlers were always likely to struggle. Teams are scoring over 300 on a regular basis these days and while we can try to be consistent and put the ball in the right areas, India have the type of players who can hit even the good balls for six.”

Despite the huge investment in the sport and the 18 months of almost continuous cricket in the run-up to this World Cup, Smith said yesterday that the jump in standard from playing mostly at the Associate level to taking on the top Test teams was still overwhelmingly large.

And he echoed the sentiments of India captain Rahul Dravid, who argued on Monday that the only way for Bermuda to improve was to play more games against the best.

“The difference in standard between us and the top teams is huge and it’s very difficult to adjust to that,” he said.

“We go from playing against the Associate countries and then all of a sudden we’re out there facing (Lasith) Malinga who’s bowling in excess of 90 miles an hour.

“It’s a lot to ask of our players. From my perspective, playing at this level has really made it obvious to me that the only way we’re going to get better is if we get the opportunity to play against teams like Sri Lanka and India on a more frequent basis.

“It’s not realistic to expect teams like us to go out there and compete against them when we rarely get an opportunity to test ourselves and learn how to cope against players of that standard.”