FORMER Bermuda captain Gladstone (Sad) Brown agrees with chairman of selectors Arnold Manders that there isn’t enough time to make major changes to the Bermuda squad ahead of the World Cup. But that is a situation, Brown believes, could have been avoided with better planning by the Bermuda Cricket Board more than a year ago when the team qualified in Ireland at the ICC trophy. “The high was qualifying but it was as though they made a pact that the team that qualified is basically the team that is going to the World Cup,” said Brown this week.

Like other local cricket fans, Brown has been disappointed by the team’s accomplishments in Kenya and South Africa over the last month where injuries and poor performances have undermined the team’s preparations for the World Cup next March in the West Indies. Coach Gus Logie, frustrated too, has publicly criticised the team’s inept performances and hinted at changes to the squad.

Brown, captain of Bermuda’s first ICC team in 1979, thinks the national programme would have been better served by including more youngsters soon after qualifying.

“We had no influx of youngsters, we had no second team training,” said the former opening batsman.

“The only match we played in Bermuda was the 20-20 against the masters. We haven’t really done anything but go with basically the team that qualified.”

There is clearly a dearth of talent compared to 20 years ago when a thriving youth league brought forward many of the current national team members.

“That is true, but what we do have is a group of youngsters that are showing good promise and collectively I would have thought that Dion Stovell, Malachi Jones and Dean Stephens and a few others should have been given a fair shake and I don’t think that happened,” argued Brown.

“The only time they did that was when the Trinidad team was here and they said ‘go out there and show what you can do’ but our national team never went out there and showed us what they could do. That’s basically where we’ve gone wrong. We have said this is the best we have and nobody else is going to get a look-in. There definitely hasn’t been any competition for places.”

The question being asked is how can we put it right in the three months before the World Cup? Those players who might have been on the fringe haven’t played any competitive cricket since September.

“We can’t, we’re out of season now,” said Brown.

“It would be unfair (to them) to bring anybody else into the squad. You are talking about having to reach a fitness level. In the past you had a trainer but this particular team has gotten bigger since they qualified. Everybody sees that but nobody did anything. People saw it in Antigua but I saw it at the stadium in the 20/20 tournament.

“Without knowing the ins and outs I have not been happy with how they have prepared, they haven’t captured the imagination of Bermuda since they qualified. All the emphasis has been on these guys and we have forgotten everybody else. We didn’t open it up.”

Brown thinks local cricket’s problems go much deeper than the national team which bears the scars of a fault structure. He thinks the domestic set-up doesn’t adequately serve our young players and needs addressing.

“We play all limited overs cricket and it is bad at that,” said the former opening batsman.

“In the last 30 years we have played limited overs but I have always called for open cricket where we can develop. There is no development in limited overs cricket. You can’t develop by bowling 10 overs a week...and sometimes not even that.

“Limited overs has limited everything...limits for the batting, bowling, fielding and ideas about how the game is played.”

He added: “We have to learn to win, learn to get a batsman out. That’s the development of the game. Domestically we are playing at such a low level. The batsmen’s technique is gone because when you are in trouble and need runs you just slash. They don’t know how to bat their way out (of trouble), their way out is to hit it to the boundary. “We haven’t really developed any batsmen, haven’t developed any bowlers and because our good players are better than the others, they haven’t had to get really physically fit. What we have is a mediocre game that has gotten us through. Now we’re trying to carry that game to the international level and it is a big ask.

“Then you look at it and most of these guys are coming towards the end of their careers. When I looked at Cup Match and saw some of the youngsters playing, we’ve got the talent but they have to be given the chance.

“Had they put two squads together or enlarged the squad once we qualified and included these youngsters we would have been better off for it. But we haven’t done anything. I don’t think we have given the youngsters a fair shake. We need to look around and see potential and then we need to work with it.”

Brown doesn’t agree with the call in some circles to reinstate Charlie Marshall, now in his mid-40s.

“How would he perform on the field? Charlie is not the fielder he used to be,” said Brown.

“Charlie is making runs but we have youngsters coming through and Charlie is going out of the game. Quite a few of those guys in the present squad are going out of the game after the World Cup. I would have like to see the youngsters put in there.

“All those senior players players is all well and good but can they learn? With the youngsters their game can improve and they are going to be our future. After this World Cup we are going to have to start all over.”

Fitness is a big concern with the current squad and injuries have robbed the team of key players at critical times.

“When you’re playing for the National Squad you bring your fitness to the national programme,” Brown stressed.

“That’s the way it used to be. Nobody is supposed to get you fit. You have a situation now where guys get injured and it is all in the papers, that they had this operation or that operation. A doctor performed that operation but I don’t hear any reports of a doctor clearing them to resume training. They just say on their own that they are ready and the next thing you hear is they are injured again. It’s not professional.”

Brown admits he wouldn’t hesitate to include Malachi Jones in the squad for the World Cup, despite being only 17 and facing the prospect of playing against the likes of former champions India and Sri Lanka in their group matches.

“Had we worked with the youngsters some of those guys would have been pushed out of the squad,” Brown believes.

“The most noise they have made is about getting a contract. I glorify in their spirit but show me some returns. Surely we should be the fittest side, that’s all we can get to carry us. Some of the guys are fit but the gap is wide. On two laps around the field there shouldn’t be much separation between the first guy and the last guy. That’s not so with this team.”

Brown plans to travel to Trinidad to support the team in the World Cup but is realistic about the team’s prospects. “Yes, I’m going to be there, supporting my Bermuda,” he stated.

“I’m not even looking for miracles, just looking for guys to represent Bermuda and do it proudly. Get yourself in shape and be the best you can. I’m not asking you to go out there and think you can beat up on India, but lets give them a run.”

Brown: We should have planned better for the World Cup