FOR all of Bermuda cricket team’s World Cup shortcomings, the squad and the country couldn’t have been served better by either Dean Minors or Saleem Mukuddem, both of whom have since announced their retirement from the international stage.

They were two of the fiercest competitors on and off the field and just as importantly two of the sport’s most impressive ambassadors.

But were their services appreciated? Who knows?

We haven’t heard a peep from Bermuda Cricket Board.

Or at least not until yesterday when, according to one of their administrators and on the heels of some prompting by former top player Dennis Wainwright, they decided to take further action against all-rounder Mukuddem for speaking out against the Board following his one-match World Cup suspension.

Unbelievably, some in the BCB continue to attempt to discredit a player who deserves so much better after showing himself to be a model of consistency over the past couple of years.

Having offered his side of the story regarding the ban which cost him a place in the World Cup match against India, Mukuddem, like the rest of us, must have been left shaking his head at the BCB’s response.

Stubbornly they refused to admit they’d over-reacted to a minor infringement, insisting the punishment fell in line with their own Code of Conduct.

Is that so?

According to that same code, a player who misses training is fined $200. Anyone who misses two training sessions is fined $500 and banned for one game.

Yet a player who skips a cocktail party at the British High Commission, having explained his predicament and offered an apology, is denied playing in arguably the biggest game in Bermuda cricket history.

Fair treatment?

You be the judge.

It seems, however, the Board’s executive aren’t all on the same page regarding this issue, with one member reportedly storming out of a meeting this week when the matter came up for discussion.

What the public need to know is that there have have been far worse cases of indiscipline by members of the national squad over the past year or so that have gone totally unpunished.

And if the BCB suggest that isn’t the case, perhaps we can enlighten them in this column next week!

* * * *

A TWO-MEDAL Carifta Games haul — both of them from the same athlete — says all we need to know about Bermuda’s track and field programme.

If there’s one regional athletic meet in which this Island should be making its mark, then this is it.

Track and field in Bermuda tends to be dominated by schoolkids. Once they leave school, interest drops off, leaving a tepid senior programme which can sometimes muster no more than two or three competitors in any one event.

But over the years we’ve been reasonably competitive at Carifta at both Under-17 and Under-20 level, often picking up a dozen medals or more.

This time in the Turks and Caicos, much like the host country and many of the other small islands, we barely got a look-in.

To their credit, the youngsters produced a few personal bests, but that was nowhere nearly good enough to challenge the might of Jamaica who virtually swept clean. As Bermuda team manager Donna Watson pointed out, the Jamaicans were faster, fitter, stronger and technically superior.

If that’s the case, clearly we’re doing something wrong.

And perhaps it’s time Bermuda Track and Field Association took a leaf out cricket coach Gus Logie’s book.

Forced to re-evaluate after the disappointments of the World Cup, Logie has called an ‘open house’ for tomorrow during which all players, coaches and others interested in cricket will be invited to make suggestions on the best way forward.

It’s a ‘two-heads-are-better-than-one’ approach that the BTFA might want to follow.

For far too long, athletics at the national level in this country has been controlled by the same people (person).

We know the problem. Let’s fix it.

The talent’s readily available. What we need are new ideas, new programmes and new initiatives.

At youth level, there’s absolutely no reason why a country like Jamaica, despite their population advantage, should be so far ahead of Bermuda.

* * * *

IT WILL have come as no surprise that our nomadic Premier Ewart Brown was among the Augusta gallery at the US Masters last week, rooting for Tiger Woods.

Weren’t we all.

With Bermuda set to host the Grand Slam of Golf at Mid Ocean Club later this year, featuring the four major winners, it would have been nice to have been able to pencil in the world’s number one player as the first contestant.

Instead we’ve got Zach Johnson.

Zach who?

No disrespect intended, but he’s hardly the name any sponsor, Bermuda Tourism Department included, would want at the top of their list. Chances are, much like Ben Curtis, he’ll turn out to be a one-major wonder.

Let’s hope the US and British Opens, and finally the PGA Championship, can produce some champions who we’re all familiar with.

* * *

IT might not mean much to the rest of the Island, but for those in the East End this Sunday’s all-First Division FA Cup semi-final between St. George’s and Devonshire Colts is, considering their lack of football success in recent years, the biggest deal outside Cup Match.

So where do Bermuda Football Association schedule this potential humdinger?

You guessed it, as far away from St. George’s as possible — in Somerset.

Is there any wonder football attendances are dropping off.