Cal Waldron was pleased by the response from his players after they bounced back from defeat in the opening match with an emphatic victory over Cayman Islands in the North American Cup.

Bermuda opened with a two-wicket defeat to Cayman before roaring back to thrash the hosts by ten wickets.

“Two different matches and two different scenarios,” Waldron told The Royal Gazette.

“In the first match, we didn’t quite execute what we needed to. We didn’t score the runs we required and we had 70 dot balls which is really too much for T20 cricket.

“If we had scored another 30 to 40 runs, we would have been able to squeeze through but sitting around the hotel, unable to do any activity for days impacted on the intensity of the players.

“The pitch was good, it had been covered with three layers of covers, so it was totally dry. Typical to what it normally looks like and it wasn’t an issue, it was just teams adjusting to getting in the rhythm of being active.”

Waldron made one change for the second encounter, replacing Jermal Proctor with his Somerset Cup Match team-mate Kwasi James.

“In the second match, we were able to go out there and make some tactical adjustments,” the coach said.

“As you saw, both teams batted well in that match and scored runs. We had a good opener partnership that dominated and executed well to bring us into victory without losing any wickets.

“We just made this one little tactical change and Kwasi James came in. He could have had two wickets had it not been for dropped catches.

“Kwasi bowled in the areas and zones that we needed to concentrate to get wickets, but it was unfortunate that we didn’t capitalise on the opportunities.

Onias Bascome and Nzari Paynter were the only players not to feature in either of the two matches, with usual opener Bascome not selected because the slow outfield placed a premium on quick singles.

“The balls are not getting to the boundary, so we’re expecting the players to run the singles really hard,” the coach said.

“Four days of rain on a field that’s got zoysia grass that’s kind of heavy. We have to think about things like that, player fatigue and fitness.

“It was just little tactics that we took into mind where we adjusted to allow the outfield to dry out a little bit more.”

Bermuda excelled in the field across both matches, with Kamau Leverock’s stunning one-handed catch in the second encounter emerging as an early contender for catch of the tournament.

“There were good spells where we did things properly and correctly,” Waldron said.

“Then there were some spells where we didn’t, but it’s about keeping the intensity and staying at the level that.

“We capitalise on the opportunities that come our way and make the match as easy as possible, not exerting ourselves beyond what we want to and need to.”

Bermuda used the rest day on Thursday to recuperate and prepare for the double-header against Bahamas on Friday.

“Thursday was a rest day so it’s a total recovery day,” Waldron added.

“We spent time nurturing the bodies to make sure that we handle the humidity. We have two games coming up on Friday and we want to have the players in great shape.

“After the matches between Cayman and Bahamas, we want to look to see how things pan out.

“We’ll look to be dominant and ruthless in those two matches. Whether we’re batting first or bowling first, we want to get through them as quickly as possible.

“We definitely want to be looking at skipping having to play Saturday and just go straight to playing on Sunday.

“But it’s about the day and executing things, so hopefully, we keep the foot on the pedal and we’re able to play the way we played in the second game against Cayman.”

Meanwhile, Cayman defeated Bahamas by 131 runs in the first match of their double-header.