Bermuda?s bowlers need ?to pull up their socks? if they?re to enjoy any success on the international stage, says former West Indies fast bowler Colin Croft.

Croft gave his assessment on the current state of the national team?s attack in the wake of last week?s 20/20 World Cricket Classic at the National Sports Centre.

Using last weekend?s final which saw Bermuda?s bowlers take a battering from South African openers Gary Kirsten and Steven Jack as an example, the former right-arm Lancashire, Guyana and West Indies pacer said the local bowlers failed miserably to trouble batsmen he considered ?over the hill?.

?You cannot bowl short and wide in one-day cricket because if you do you are looking for blows. Bermuda?s bowlers never adjusted. They went right through 20 overs doing the same thing and the result was South Africa making 266 in 20 overs, which must be some sort of a record,? said Croft, who took 125 Test wickets for the West Indies between 1977 and 1982.

?This was a South African team with an average age of 43 beating a team that is going to the next World Cup. If I was the Bermuda team I would have gone home for two weeks to have a very good look at myself because I would want to know what the hell happened here.

?I would really want to know how for 20 overs we couldn?t bowl a line or length to men 20 years older than they were. You must adjust the line and length according to the conditions and also to what you see happening.

?Cricket is not a mechanical game; you cannot just set the computer and let it run the same way all of the time. Every delivery you have to think. Every time you run up to bowl you must have something else in mind.

?But I also think this was a good lesson for the Bermudian bowlers because if they look at the entire film, and I would assume Logie (Bermuda coach Gus Logie) has the match taped, they would see where they made their mistakes.

?This is a good opportunity for them to have a good look at themselves and absorb what happened and also understand what went wrong and try to correct it because if South Africa can pump 266 runs in 20 overs, then think about what can happen in the World Cup. If you bowl that to India they will score 400 runs in 50 overs . . . I promise you that.?

While Croft applauded South Africa?s aggressive batting, he said it didn?t take a very good batsman to ?beat you around the place? if you continually bowl wayward or short.

?Gary Kirsten stopped playing international cricket about two or three years ago and the other guy Jack who was pumping the ball all over the place . . . I have never seen him play Test cricket. He must have stopped playing cricket before South Africa were readmitted in 1992 to Test status,? added Croft.

?You bowl badly and batsmen will kill you.?

In defence of his bowlers, Logie told ?I think some of the guys struggled to adapt to the restricted run-ups. They?ve been practising coming off a shorter run in the nets, but if you are not used to it in a match situation it can be difficult to find your rhythm.?

However, Croft also believed Bermuda?s cricketers wilted under the pressure of playing before a large home crowd.

?Bermuda struggled in the final and they did so because I think they were a little bit stage frightened. I don?t think they have ever been in that position before and they buckled under the pressure,? said Croft, whose figures of eight for 29 against Pakistan remain the best by a West Indian bowler in Test cricket.

?Now imagine playing in front of 40-45,000 people at the Queen?s Park Oval . . . what are you going to do then? You are either going to get stage fright or have the whole crowd evaporate. They must instead focus on their cricket and forget the crowd.

?Most of Bermuda?s players have never played in front of ten thousand people before and the other part of having your own support is that you have to perform ? if not they become a very big stone around your neck.

?If they don?t perform for them, then they become quite disappointed as was the case in the final.?

As for last week?s event at the National Sports Centre, Croft, who flew back to his native Guyana yesterday where he will commentate on this weekend?s One-Day Internationals involving the West Indies and Zimbabwe, gave it the thumbs-up.

?It was really well organised and what was very impressive was the response of the crowd,? he said. ?I really suspect this event will be put on every year because of the response which was excellent.?