Poor bowling and inexperience at the crease at crucial stages were the chief reasons for Bermuda’s demise at the ICC World Twenty20 qualifiers, according to coach Arnold Manders.

Manders watched on helplessly as his team failed to qualify for next year’s Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh. Lamenting Bermuda’s performances throughout the campaign, which saw them win two out of eight matches in Dubai, it was their inability to execute in key moments of matches that decided their fate.

Manders said: “Besides the match against Afghanistan, where we were truly beaten, we were in all the games.

“The Papua New Guinea match, Nepal, all those games were in it, but the results didn’t really reflect what happened. There are key moments in matches were you have to analyse the situation and make a confident judgment call on what needs to happen and unfortunately we didn’t.”

Manders said he could take positives from Bermuda’s batting performances especially during their first powerplay overs.

“We got good starts but the main issue in the set up stage where you have to gauge what’s going on,” he said.

“What people don’t see, or read, is that we were one of the better sides when it comes to the first power play, but the problem comes when you have to assess what needs to be done and instead of taking singles and being satisfied, you have to grab a boundary every now and then.

“This type of game demands you to pick up the tempo of the game and remain positive throughout.

“Two close games came down to us not being able to grind out the result and be able to remain calm under the spotlight.” Manders also believed Bermuda had not been as well prepared for the tournament as their rivals.

Bermuda played three Twenty20 games in Florida prior to the competition whereas many of their opponents had been competitive months in advance of the qualifiers.

“You have to be practising these scenarios throughout your preparation. You can’t say you are just going to go out there and get on with a job,” said Manders.

“If you can train and hone your skills competitively in real situations then you become accustomed to going out on the day and adjusting to the climate of the match.

“I don’t know how we can get more games against quality opposition, but to just go in the nets and train doesn’t lend itself to being successful.

“We were the lowest ranked team in the competition besides Denmark. The rest are Division I and II sides, so we have to see what needs to be done for us to get back into contention to compete with the big teams.”