Bermuda’s national team players get back to work this morning after a “restful” weekend in Jamaica when cricket was pushed to one side and the accent placed firmly on opening ceremony celebrations.

Along with their Group B opponents — India, Sri Lanka and Bangldadesh — the team left Jamaica late yesterday afternoon on a charter flight to Trinidad, arriving more than two hours late when they were greeted at the airport by tight security.

A convoy of police cars, blue lights flashing, escorted the players to the Hilton Hotel in Port of Spain where all of the teams, officials and umpires will be staying throughout the group stages.

India, led by skipper Rahul Dravid, were first to arrive, followed closely by Bangladesh, with Bermuda and Sri Lanka arriving another 15 minutes later, Bermuda’s top spin bowler Dwayne Leverock just a few steps ahead of the man rated as currently the best in the world, Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan.

Bermuda skipper Irving Romaine noted that the team had been given the “weekend off” by coach Gus Logie but were itching to get back into the nets this morning.

A three-hour session is planned at the Sir Frank Worrell ground at the University of West Indies’ St. Augustine campus, starting at 9 a.m, while their first-match opponents, Sri Lanka, will train in the afternoon at Couva, an hour’s drive outside the capital.

As the players filed through another security check at the Hilton, from where hundreds of guests including the Indian team were evacuated last week following a gas cannister explosion, Romaine said he was excited by the atmosphere, but ready to “get down to business”.

“Logie gave us the weekend off but tomorrow (today) I think we could be even training twice,” he said.

“The World Cup’s started right now and I think we’re all excited, coming here and having to deal with all of this security.

“Dean (vice-captain Minors) had his first experience at a press conference today. Logie made him go in his place, and he’s still shellshocked as you can see. We’re trying to deal with different things but we’re ready to go.”

With the hotel less than half a mile from the impressive Queen’s Park Oval, where all group games will be played and where extensive renovations have taken place over the past year, Bermuda’s players will get chance to see the pitch there tomorrow as training is scheduled to take place in the Oval nets. Meanwhile, hundreds of workmen were yesterday still busily putting the final touches on the stadium as journalists from around the globe were given a guided tour.

With a capacity of 17,000, the ground will be one of the most impressive in which Bermuda have ever played, and even Logie, a Trinidadian who knows his way around the venue better than most, will likely be surprised when he sees the improvements.

The players’ pavilion, dressing rooms, VIP, bar and dining areas have been gutted and totally refurbished, new furniture still waiting to be taken out of protective wrapping ahead of Thursday’s opening game.

At the opposite end of the ground, work was also continuing yesterday on a media centre that will house more than 200 journalists, complete with banks of TVs and the latest in communication systems.

As of yesterday, tickets were still available for the Bermuda-Sri Lanka clash on Thursday, but organisers noted that the fifth group game between India and Sri Lanka on Friday, Mach 23 was already sold out.