Bermuda crumbled to their second successive defeat in Indianapolis and have given themselves a mountain to climb in the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament.

A 34-run defeat at the hands of Canada, who scored 143 for eight and then held Bermuda to 70 for eight in reply, means Bermuda will need to win their next four games if they are to finish in the top two and qualify for the World Twenty20 Qualifiers in Ireland in July.

The likelihood of that happening appears slim however, and their performance yesterday did little to suggest they are equipped to compete with the teams in their own region, let alone globally.

A three-over spell from Jacobi Robinson aside, Bermuda were outplayed by Canada, who did not need the help they were given by an opposition that dropped catches and botched a rain-effected run chase from the first ball of their innings.

None of which should take away from an impressive piece of batting by Ruvindu Gunasekera, the Canada opener, whose 54-ball 62 laid the foundations for his side’s innings. Gunasekera, however, should not have reached 20.

After putting on 48 in the first six overs with Rizwan Cheema, the Canada captain, Gunasekera mistimed a pull to fine leg off the second ball of Janeiro Tucker’s first over and was dropped.

That Tucker then claimed Cheema’s wicket the next ball proved to be scant consolation to Bermuda as Gunasekera and Nitish Kumar then put on 45 runs in the next six overs.

The introduction of Robinson not only stemmed the tide, but turned the game in Bermuda’s favour, with the spinner removing Kumar for 20, and finishing with three wickets for just 13 runs as Canada were reduced to 119 for four.

Stefan Kelly, whose first three overs went for 21 runs, returned to remove Gunasekera at the death, and a Canada score that looked like reaching 160 was kept down as Bermuda took four wickets in ten balls. Kelly bowled Navneet Dhaliwal for four, Delray Rawlins removed Hamza Tariq at the start of the final over, and Tucker ran out Satsimranjit Dhindsa.

The rain that had threatened all morning then started to fall in earnest, and two hours later Bermuda were handed a revised target of 105 runs from 13 overs, even that proved to be beyond them.

In a disastrous start to the innings Dion Stovell was out from the first ball of the innings, skiing a catch to Jimmy Hansra off the bowling of Cecil Pervez. James Celestine went in similar fashion two overs later, and when David Hemp was run out for five, Bermuda were struggling on eight for three.

Tucker came in and gave his side a glimmer of hope with a quick-fire 20, but any slim chance Bermuda had of saving the game disappeared when he was bowled by Hansra, trying to hit another six over long-on.

At 36 for five with half their overs remaining Bermuda were in danger of being completely humiliated. As it was, while wickets fell regularly at the other end, Tre Manders stood firm with an unbeaten 17 and guided his side to 70 for eight by the end.

Defeat leaves Bermuda well adrift of Canada and the United States, who play each other tomorrow, and anything other than a win over Suriname today is likely to render the rest of the week meaningless.

n The domestic cricket season will finally get under way on Saturday.

Southampton Rangers and Willow Cuts open proceedings when they play their postponed Twenty20 final from last year at Somerset Cricket Club.

The Belco Cup, which has reverted back to its original format of four teams will take place on the weekend of May 16 and 17. The semi-finals on the Saturday pits holders St David’s against Cuts in Somerset, with perennial winners Rangers taking on Bailey’s Bay at St David’s. Sunday’s final will again take place at St David’s.

The Twenty20 league is pencilled in to start on May 23, with Premier Division and First Division matches expected to begin on the weekend of May 31.