Any confidence Bermuda?s players might have taken from last week?s hard-earned four-day draw against Holland will have quickly evaporated with this disappointing five-wicket defeat at Sedgars Park yesterday against a Canadian side they had beaten in their last three one-day outings.

Once again the team?s lack of bowling depth was exposed all too easily by a Canadian outfit missing two of their star players in John Davidson and Ian Billicliff and who came into the match with seven straight one-day losses behind them.

While Bermuda can look back on encouraging performances from David Hemp, who followed up his double-century against Holland last week with a top score of 55, and an excellent spell of bowling from Janeiro Tucker who grabbed two for 23 off 10 stingy overs, they?ll realise this was a contest they could have won.

But having posted a respectable 235 in their 50 overs after being asked to bat on a strip which improved markedly as the day wore on, except for a period in the middle of the Canadian innings when Tucker and Dwayne Leverock combined to slow the run flow to a trickle, they never looked like being able to defend that total.

The final result shows Canada winning by five wickets with 2.1 overs to spare, but it was even easier than the scorebook shows.

Bermuda were dealt an early blow with the withdrawal of Kevin Hurdle with a stomach bug and matters weren?t helped when Ryan Steede suffered a back strain and was able to bowl only four overs.

But Hurdle?s replacement, Stefan Kelly, gave up runs all too easily, conceding 14 in his first over and ultimately getting despatched for 33 in his 3.5 overs, while the normally reliable Saleem Mukuddem was heavily punished in his second spell, his one wicket costing 52 runs off 10 overs.

Steede?s four-over spell went for 27, although he was obviously restricted in his movement, Hemp gave away 41 in eight overs and skipper Irving Romaine 17 in two overs while the steady Leverock took one for 39 off 10.

But slow bowler Tucker was by far the pick of the Bermuda attack, his control and consistency preventing a much heftier victory from a Canada team fired by man-of-the-match Sunil Dhaniram?s blistering 63 of 42 balls, which included eight fours and one six.

Number three bat Ashish Bagai followed up the half-century he hit against Holland the previous day with a chanceless, unbeaten 58 while openers Desmond Chumney (38) and Ashif Mulla (30) laid the foundation for what was ultimately an unhurried and untroubled triumph.

Sixty-four runs were already on the board in 12 overs before Mukuddem made the initial breakthrough, bowling Mulla, and when Tucker removed Chumney four overs later, caught by Mukuddem at long-off with the score on 81, it seemed Bermuda might be able to claw their way back.

But with Bagai anchoring the Canadian innings and offering few chances, it was always going to be a tall order.

Leverock trapped Abddol Samad for 21 with the total on 117 after 26 overs, and skipper George Codrington was fittingly bagged by Tucker on the very last ball of his 10-over spell, caught behind by Dean Minors for 10.

However, in a partnership worth 91, Bagai and Dhaniran carried Canada to the brink of victory before Kelly had the latter caught by Minors just seven runs shy of the target, leaving new bat Don Maxwell (4) to complete the formalities.

Earlier, Bermuda had got off to their trademark calamitous start, Kwame Tucker falling for a duck in the first over as he fended a sharply rising delivery from Henry Osinde into the gloves of wicketkeeper Mulla and his replacement, Stephen Outerbridge (4), facing only four balls before being rapped on the pads by Osinde and given out.

But Minors, relishing his new role as opener, and Irving Romaine went some way to repairing the damage in a stand of 71 before Minors (37) became the next victim, stumped by his counterpart Bagai going for the big hit off Dhaniram.

The pair had brought up the 50 in 10 overs and the 100 in 20 overs, laying the groundwork for what might have turned into a total of 250-plus. But neither Romaine, caught and bowled by Dhaniram for 36, Hemp (55), trapped lbw by Kevin Sandher nor Janeiro Tucker, bowled by Sandher for 27, could furnish the big innings that was so desperately required.

Lionel Cann (8), making his first start of this tour, went in the 41st over, skying a catch to Chumney off Sanjay Thuraisingham, when his presence in the final overs might have been invaluable, and when Steede was nailed lbw by the same bowler for six with just one over remaining, it was left to Mukuddem (20 not out) and Leverock (eight not out) to smack 12 off the last over and ensure Bermuda set a reasonable target.

But in the end 235 proved nowhere enough.

Today Bermuda get chance to make amends quickly, taking on the Dutch who on Sunday beat Canada by 17 runs.

Steede has definitely been ruled out with Hurdle facing a fitness test this morning.