Bermuda finally steps on to the world cricket stage today when it makes its long-awaited debut in the World Cup against Sri Lanka.

There have been a number of highs and lows since the euphoria of Bermuda qualifying for the World Cup in Ireland in 2005, and the team and its many supporters will go into today’s match with a good deal of tempered optimism.

It would be easy but wrong to write the Island off against Sri Lanka. Perhaps more than any other sport, cricket matches can be determined by the mindsets of the team on the day, as the West Indies have already demonstrated this week. Having been soundly beaten by India in a warm-up match, they came back to defeat a good Pakistan team. And yesterday saw Scotland lose by a wide margin against mighty Australia, but they will have earned some respect for the way they battled.

That’s what Bermuda needs to do today. It is almost certainly too much to expect a victory — it would rank as perhaps the greatest upset in cricketing history — but a fighting performance is far from impossible.

Win or lose, all of Bermuda should be proud of this team. They have worked hard in the last two years, spent weeks and months away from family and friends, put up with a fair amount of sneering and criticism from within and without, and now have the chance to face some of the greatest cricketers in the world.

Whatever happens today, they do not have to win our respect. They already have it.

Southlands SDO

Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield deserves credit for deciding to extend the objection period to the application to build a hotel at the Southlands property in Warwick before deciding on whether or not to issue a special development order.

This decision has clearly caused Ms Butterfield and the Government some concerns and Ms Butterfield is right to ensure that she has heard all views before she makes her decision.

She will at least be able to make the argument that this was not a “done deal”, and that she at least did her homework.

That was very much the case previously when the period in which objections could be submitted was cut short sue to the Christmas holiday. The visits of Jumeirah executives, along with the strong backing of Premier and Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown also gave every suggestion that the application would be approved, and quickly.

This has not been the case, and one must assume that the reason for that is the upsurge of opposition to the plan. Much of that opposition has been well aired, and there is no need to repeat it here.

But it has been well made, and there is some reason to think that it has caused some divisions within the Cabinet and has given Ms Butterfield — who has reasonably good environmental credentials — pause.

So she has detailed what the SDO would entail and what it would demand of the developers in terms of environmental impact studies and the public now has the opportunity to object, and presumably, to support the application. That is valuable.

It is true that Ms Butterfield would set a number of conditions if the SDO was granted, and that is to be welcomed.

Still, one wonders whether it would not be better to demand those reports before the issue of the SDO, and it is not entirely clear what would happen if the impact reports did not meet the Ministry’s approval. It may well be a case of the horse having already bolted, especially given the very ambitious timelines outlined by Jumeirah and the developers.

Nonetheless, the public demanded the opportunity to object and they have been given it. They should take advantage of it.