WHILE the rest of the Bermuda national squad travelled home to a hero's welcome following success in the ICC Americas Championship in Canada last weekend, squad member Stefan Kelly was on his way back to the UK to play in another match.

The young seam bowler, who recently turned 18, was invited to play for a Rutland Invitational XI on Monday against a Leicestershire County XI made up of second team and Academy players. Leicestershire won the match as Kelly gave up 20 runs in his six overs, but it was more about the exposure than the result for the young Bermudian who attends Oakham School and was one of two students from Oakham School invited to play.

The Rutland Invitational XI was made up of some of the best available Rutland cricketers in the county and provided them with an opportunity to not only represent the county but also to play at a slightly higher standard.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for the county of Rutland to showcase some of its best players against Leicestershire County Cricket Club," said Oakham club captain Chris Larsen who was also in the team that played the 45-over match at Oakham's Cricket Club's Lime Kilns ground.

Kelly, who is taking the upcoming school year off in order to bid for a place in the Bermuda World Cup team, is also hoping to catch the attention of the Leicestershire coaches as he pursues his dream of playing county cricket in England.

"He bowled six overs, one maiden for about 20 runs, no wicket," explained his mother Rochelle who spoke to her son this week.

""He did say he made a few runs and seemed to impress the Leicestershire coaches which was what he was after because he wants to play county cricket in the future. I think he's arranging some training with them while he's out there."

Kelly will remain in England until next week and will miss tomorrow's final of the Eastern Counties when holders St. David's take on Flatts. He was dropped from the St. George's Cup Match team after making his debut last year.

"He was disappointed not having made Cup Match but receiving this phone call brightened him up," said his mother. "I said to him 'a lot of people get dropped, Stefan', but when you tell a teenager that it's a whole different story. That phone call the Wednesday before Cup Match did lift his spirits.

"The team was actually put together by the media in the area and he was invited with two other of his teammates from school, while the other players who made up the team were playing in the leagues out there. He was pretty excited to be included."

So while his Bermuda teammates were flying in one direction after landing the Americas Cup success, Kelly was on his way back to England. "We arranged to fly him over to England directly from Canada," said his mother.

"He's taking the (next) school year off to try to confirm a spot in the World Cup team and will be going back to school after the World Cup. We have decided it wouldn't be in his best interest to try to do both (school and World Cup training). It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, representing his country (in World Cup)."

While the national team's overseas ventures will continue in the next few months, the domestic season is winding down. St. David's will have players back from international duty for the match with Flatts, though veteran batsman Allen Richardson is now away (as manager with the Under-15 team in Florida) and is unavailable for the match. St. David's will be wary of Flatts who beat them quite comfortably in the league just two weeks ago. Even so, it has been over 20 years since Flatts ? like Cleveland ? last won the cup and it won't be a cup the Islanders will give up easily...even if they failed to field a team last weekend in the Knockout Cup against Social Club.

Flatts could also reach a rare knockout final on Sunday when they take on Social Club in the semi-finals of the Premier Division Knockout Cup. The other semi-final sees Bailey's Bay playing Southampton Rangers. The First Division KO semi-final draw sees Leg Trappers meeting PHC and Somerset Bridge taking on Cleveland on Sunday.