Bermuda coach Cal Waldron will use the North American Cup in the Cayman Islands as a gauge of the team’s improvement ahead of some big future assignments.

Speaking before the team’s departure yesterday, Waldron expressed his wish to see players tick the right boxes.

“The objective is to keep going in the progressive path that we’re on,” Waldron told The Royal Gazette.

“We’ve set some goals and some targets since the last two qualifiers. We want to make sure that we’re progressively getting better to be able to stay on par with the other associates, more so to be competitive against Canada and America.

“The June qualifiers were a good example. We hit some of the targets and achieved the things we wanted to achieve.”

Vice-captain Derrick Brangman declared that the players were geared up for the challenge provided by Bahamas and Cayman.

“The guys are up for the task, they have a job to do and we hope to come back with some silverware,” he said.

“The objective is to get better for the upcoming tours and try to build for the bigger teams. Our preparations have been good, training has been hard and I think this tour should be good for us.”

Bermuda head into the competition as favourites with the United States and Canada absent. Without the two regional powers, Waldron’s side will meet Bahamas and the host nation in a round robin starting on Sunday, with the final a week later.

“We are very disappointed because those are teams we want to test ourselves against and see where we’re standing,” Brangman said.

“They help us to improve our cricket so with them not being there means that we have to find other ways to get better.”

Waldron insists the team are striving to be at the same level with the US and Canada.

“We were preparing ourselves to face them [US and Canada] and unfortunately things didn’t pan out,” Waldron said.

“But it’s still an opportunity that we’re able to get together and go and play as a team. It’s active involvement rather than sitting idle and being caught off guard or waiting another six to eight months to play.

“We still have to go out there and perform. We want to be achieving certain things so that we know that we’re on course and on par with the other two teams, Canada and the US.”

Kwasi James, who was recalled after last appearing for Bermuda in 2018, expressed his determination to cement his spot in the team.

“I’m just looking to put my best foot forward, hopefully be in the mix for the tours to come,” the 31-year-old said.

“In this tournament here, I’m a bowling all-rounder. I’m just looking to hit line and length, pick up where I left off in the league and carry it over to the national team.”

Eleven players left on Wednesday with captain Terryn Fray set to join the team on Friday. Dominic Sabir is travelling from England and Isaiah O’Brien is linking up with his team-mates after travelling from Canada.

No warm-up matches have been arranged for the team in Cayman, something the coach feels reduces the chances of being “spied” on.

“We weren’t successful in organising a practice match,” Waldron said.

“We’re just going to have a training session as part of our preparation for the tournament.

“It gives us a good feel to be able to get together and work on some things as a group as opposed to playing a full practice match and exposing ourselves to the viewing public to see and pick us apart.

“The good thing for us is we’re coming out of season and we’ve been active within the last month.

“We’ve watched everybody play and we’ve been monitoring our performances, so we’re good to go.”