“Don’t underestimate us!”

That was the stern warning from assistant Bermuda Under-19 national cricket coach Andre Manders following his team’s comfortable 103-run triumph over Cleveland County at Wellington Oval on Sunday.

“The guys are focused and have been in training since January. So they are ready to play and really feel comfortable now having beaten Cleveland,” Manders said yesterday.

In a rain-affected encounter at the East End, reduced to 39 overs per side, the Under-19s were dismissed for 190 but were able to skittle out their more fancied opponents under the century mark.

World Cup star Malachi Jones carved an attractive 73 to top the team’s batting while former Under-15 skipper Rodney Trott claimed three wickets without conceding a single run.

But while coach Manders was delighted with the result, winning, he stressed, wasn’t the primary purpose for the team’s involvement in the big league.

“Our main objective is to try and develop all of the players for the Under-19 Americas Championships in August,” he explained. “Our main goal is to try and qualify for next year’s Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia.”

The Under-19s are also scheduled to return to Barbados in July to compete in the Sir Gary Sobers Schools Tournament that pits some of the best youth teams in the region against each other.

But even Manders admitted to being a bit surprised by his team’s demolition of a Clay Smith-led Cleveland side.

“They had some pretty decent players out there and so we told our guys to just go out and enjoy themselves and do the best they could — and that’s exactly what they achieved,” he added.

With batsmen such Oronde Bascome currently not involved in the national youth programme, Manders is wary of his team’s limited batting depth but still feels those that are involved are more than capable of getting the job done.

At one stage on Sunday the Island’s youngsters found themselves in a spot of bother after losing early wickets.

“One of our main concerns at the moment is definitely our batting — it is not as deep as it was last year,” Manders said. “We have to get our opening and some of our middle order batsmen clicking. I think our early order bats have to apply themselves a bit more.

“Even though we scored 190 runs we are still a bit concerned while our running between the wicket can also improve because we had run-outs at crucial stages with Malachi getting run out on 73 and Kyle Hodsoll without even facing a ball.”

Jones’ World Cup experience continues to pay dividends as he put the Cleveland attack to the sword with ease.

Still, Manders wants to see all of his batsmen pulling their weight out in the middle.

“We can’t put all the responsibility on Malachi. Everybody has to chip in and this is something we always stress to the players,”he said.

Manders said he was satisfied with the team’s bowling and fielding abilities.

“I thought the guys fielded exceptionally well on Sunday while the bowling is a lot better,” he added.

The Under-19s have this weekend off as Two-Day cricket again takes centre stage, but are scheduled to meet Somerset at Somerset Cricket Club on June 2.

As previously promised, Manders yesterday reiterated that players would be rotated on a regular basis and thus allowed to return to their club teams at any given time.

“We are going to change the team a bit and maybe bring in two or three new faces,” he said. “We want to have a good look at all of the players we have. So even though we are getting the results we are not really concerned about them.

“We just want to basically give all of the players a fair chance to play while balancing the team before the Americas Championships in Toronto later this summer.”