A second ICC Trophy defeat in as many games again demonstrated just how much work will have to be done as Bermuda?s cricketers set about preparing for the country?s biggest-ever sporting challenge in two years? time.

Beaten by five wickets in the match to decide third and fourth place by a Canadian team who never needed to get out of first gear probably wasn?t the way the surprise package of this tournament would have wanted to end their stay in Ireland.

Yet with the Island players? minds still no doubt fixed on what lies ahead at the World Cup in the West Indies, it would be difficult to criticise such a lacklustre performance, coming as it did at the end of what has been a gruelling series of 12 matches in just under three weeks.

In the end the only significance of yesterday?s result at the Malahide Cricket Club just north of Dublin was how it would determine the World Cup groupings when the sport?s showpiece event gets underway in 2007.

Bermuda?s fourth-place finish means they will now face the biggest games in local cricket history against India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Trinidad.

Canada, meanwhile, go into a group containing England, New Zealand and Kenya in St. Lucia.

And by the time those matches roll around you can bet Gus Logie?s men will be a much fitter, meaner and better organised outfit than they showed yesterday.

As skipper Clay Smith confessed, it always difficult for the players to raise their game again following the heroics of last week which secured their passage to the World Cup.

?The players had their hearts set on qualifying and I think once we qualified we took our foot off the pedal slightly,? said Smith. ?You have to take into consideration that we were playing two teams (Scotland and Canada) that went to the World Cup last year, so it was just a learning experience to show us just how far we have to go to make that next step.

?We have two years to prepare ourselves and we still have a long way to go even though we have qualified.

?You look at Scotland, they have the advantage of playing in the English league so you know, the level of professionalism they have is shown on the field.

"With Canada, we?re not that far off. It?s just a matter of us getting the exposure we need. We lack international exposure. Over the next two years if we can get that, you?ll see a much improved Bermuda national team.?

But Smith said he had already seen a massive improvement in the squad just during the time they had been in Ireland.

?In the last two months with Gus (Logie) helping us, the team has come on in leaps and bounds. And just since leaving England a couple of weeks? ago, we?ve seen a major difference.

?Today was the first time we?ve been bowled out during the whole tournament, the first time we?ve been dismissed for under 200. Overall we have a game plan and it?s worked for us.

?I think today we were a little bit tired. It?s definitely been a learning experience.

?Personally I want to thank Janeiro Tucker who stood in for me as captain and did a tremendous job and he deserves a lot of credit.

?The guys are now basically looking forward to getting home and being greeted by hopefully thousands of fans because for us this is still a dream come true, even though we lost the last two games. We accomplished something which no other team in Bermuda has ever accomplished before, although we?re still a long way off where we want to be.?

A gutsy and gritty innings of 71 by arguably Bermuda?s player of the tournament, Irving Romaine, was undoubtedly the highlight of yesterday?s

performance, but apart from the 31 by Smith and 29 from the bat of Tucker, he received little support with the result that an eventual total of 195 was never going to be sufficient to trouble Canada.

Again electing to bat after winning the toss, Bermuda found runs hard to come by as both openers, Delyone Borden (2) and OJ Pitcher (0), were back in the pavilion with only three on the board.

Pitcher was yet again trapped lbw, in the fourth over by Umar Bhatti, and in the next over Borden played on to a delivery from Sanjayan Thuraisingam.

Romaine and Mukuddem finally got the ball rolling, the latter thumping three straight fours off Bhutti, as they carried the score to 45 before Mukuddem drove into the hands of Kevin Sandher off the bowling of Don Maxwell, having added 15.

Wendell White, playing in his first game of the tournament, joined Romaine but could manage only eight before he was dismissed lbw to the spin of Canada?s star batsman John Davison.

Romaine and new bat Tucker, however, combined for the best partnership of the innings, putting on 51 in 12 overs.

But once Tucker was caught on the long-on boundary by Desmond Chumney off Maxwell for 29 and Romaine went soon after to a superb running catch by Zubin Surkari off Sandher, having spiced his innings with eight fours and three sixes, the onus was again on the tailenders to come to the fore.

This time it didn?t happen, although the controversial run out of Dean Minors (2), a key figure at the bottom of the order throughout the entire tournament, certainly hindered Bermuda?s progress.

Canadian wicketkeeper Pubudu Dassanayake, who played 11 Tests for Sri Lanka in the 1990s, appeared to whip off the bails before the ball reached his gloves as Minors was sent back by his skipper. But Malaysian umpire Shahul Hameed apparently saw it differently.

At 146 for seven with only 12 overs remaining, Bermuda desperately needed another late blast from Lionel Cann, but he too failed to deliver, adding just ten before returning a straightforward catch to Sandher.

Smith?s hopes of taking the score over 200 disappeared when he was run out for 31, and Dennis Archer was left unbeaten on seven when last man Dwayne Leverock fell lbw to Thuraisingam for a duck.

If Bermuda were to have any hope of defending their 195 total it seemed much would depend on their ability to remove the ever-dangerous Davison, who holds the World Cup record for the fastest century ? scored in 61 balls against West Indies in South Africa two years ago.

And surprisingly they managed to do that in just the third over, Mukuddem enticing the faintest of touches into the gloves of Minors after the opening bat had scored just five.

But his partner, Chumney, went on to score 44 and new bat Surkari 47 as a second wicket partnership of 94 effectively ended the contest.

Ian Billcliff?s knock of 44 finished the job off.

Mukuddem was the best of the Bermuda bowlers with two for 41 off rwn overs with Tucker, Borden and Archer sharing the other wickets.

The Bermuda squad will return home today, flying direct from Dublin to Philadelphia and connecting with an evening US Air flight which is expected to arrive around 10 p.m.