Pressure got to us, says Hemp
Bermuda skipper David Hemp said his side’s inability to deal with pressure situations cost them against Uganda.Hemp pointed to the number of balls that Bermuda failed to score from in the 74 run defeat yesterday as major contributing factor the loss, while also acknowledging that they hadn’t bowled well either.“That (dot balls) has been an issue for us over the past two games and again for us today, unfortunately,” said Hemp. “It’s something we have addressed in team meetings, and talked about, but obviously we’re not dealing with it well enough.“We had 193 (dot balls) the first game, 180 the second, and 184 today, that was certainly highlighted in our innings.“If you look at their innings, the way they played, they did rotate the strike very well in the middle and they ran their twos as well. It’s a massive ground and it was important that you ran well. In all fairness to them, that’s what they did.”While Bermuda didn’t bowl as well as they can, Uganda still only scored 249 for seven, not an insurmountable total by any means. The team struggled though to score quickly enough to keep up with the run rate, and by the time the final ten overs came around they needed 10 runs an over.“We didn’t bowl as well as we can, without question,“ said Hemp, “and, at least for me, we didn’t build any pressure, and the fact that they also ran very well, did make it difficult.“But, again, you think 250, reasonable wicket, we just didn’t deal well enough with the pressure in the middle. When you’re 50 for four it’s quite difficult, but we’ve got seven batters, we bat all-rounders down to ten, so we do feel we can chase scores like that.“At that stage, at 50 for four, you felt that all it needed was a good partnership within good time. Unfortunately we didn’t have a good partnership in good time and we left ourselves too much to do with the last 10 overs.”In contrast to Uganda, who brought in an extra seam bowler to play on a ground that reportedly swings more than the others, Bermuda opted to stick with just Damali Bell and Stefan Kelly. MalachI Jones is injured, although after initially being ruled out of the rest of the tour, there is now hope that he might yet play a part towards the end. However, that still left Kyle Hodsoll and Jim West available.“We heard different reports (about the ground), and we hadn’t played here,” said Hemp “Really no we didn‘t think about picking another seamer.“Ok, Kyle (Hodsoll) is a swing bowler, but in terms of the make up of the side, and what we have been playing for, planning for, is the two front line seamers getting us to 12-13 overs, and then a combination of the four guys that can bowl spin to take us through that middle bit.”