With just two more warm-up matches remaining before the much anticipated start this Friday of the ICC Trophy Tournament, it?s still difficult to assess Bermuda?s chances of making the Final Five who will progress to the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

Jekyll and Hyde performances during three warm-up games in England last week perhaps posed more questions than they answered.

A solid, workmanlike victory over soon-to-be ICC affiliates Guernsey will have left nobody in any doubt that on their day Bermuda?s players possess what it takes to go all the way in Ireland.

But if anybody missed that game and happened to watch two disappointing defeats against, first Lloyds of London, and then fellow ICC Trophy competitors Namibia, they?d probably form the opinion that Bermuda don?t stand a cat in Hell?s chance of advancing out of their group into the semi-finals when action begins in earnest later this week.

Playing five group matches against quality opponents in the space of seven days suggests consistency will be the key to success and so far on this pre-tournament tour that?s been a sadly missing ingredient.

Ironically, while Bermuda left home with question marks hanging over the potency of their bowling attack, particularly following the withdrawal of the injured Kevin Hurdle, it?s been the batting that has let them down so badly.

Apart from Irving Romaine who will have done enough in his two knocks against Lloyds (46) and Guernsey (69 not out) ? he was rested against Namibia ? to ensure that his name will be the first to be pencilled in for this Friday?s opening match against hosts Ireland, few others on the team have produced anything like the innings of which they are all capable.

Wendell White (34) and Saleem Mukuddem (20) showed steely determination against Namibia as they fought a losing cause and Dean Minors, like Romaine left out for the game against Namibia, impressed with a quickfire 38 against Lloyds.

But for a team loaded with batting talent, in which sometimes opener White has been batting as far down the order as number nine, there have been simply too many failures.

Some, such as Albert Steede, might point to dubious umpiring decisions ? indeed the Saltus schoolteacher was subject to two such dismissals last week ? while others, most significantly skipper Clay Smith, will be aware that their report cards so far will have been stamped with the words ?could do much better?.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment so far, however, has been the batting of young Chris Foggo who has yet to translate his dynamic domestic form into international success.

Drafted into the squad at the 11th hour following the expulsion of Charlie Marshall, Foggo certainly possesses all the shots to make an impression at this level, but desperately needs to harness his natural attacking instincts.

His best knock in all three games last week was 24, a score that could comfortably have been parlayed into a much larger total but for his inexplicable insistence on batting some two feet outside his crease against the spin attack ? an arrogant approach that was always going to cost him his wicket sooner rather than later.

Against Lloyds he was sent back for just two with what might have been another unfortunate lbw decision but after blazing a boundary in his first over against Namibia, he again suffered at the hands of his own impatience with a wild, unnecessary shot which proved his undoing.

Having been promoted to opener, one might have thought it would have been impressed upon the youngster from more experienced players around him that a more circumspect approach was required.

Lionel Cann and vice-captain Janeiro Tucker are others who have yet to unveil the form that so frequently makes them a threat on home soil.

On the plus side, however, the bowlers have done much to answer those critics who felt it was this part of the game that would ultimately cost Bermuda.

In his one outing against Guernsey, Ryan Steede snapped up three for 20 in just eight overs, and while guest player Stefan Kelly stole the honours with his stunning return of five for 23 against Namibia, a three-wicket haul from another youngster, Delyone Borden, (three for 24 off ten) didn?t go unnoticed.

Dwayne Leverock, on whom Bermuda will rely heavily once the ICC gets underway, has bowled economically without producing his very best while Mukuddem (three for 36 against Guernsey) has shown he can be more than a useful opening or even first change bowler.

Coach Logie has insisted that results prior to the tournament mean little, and he still may well be proved right.

But given the choice, it?s probably fair to say he would have preferred to have won two out of three games last week rather than vice-versa.

Captain Smith also believes that once the strongest team is put out in the best possible batting order ? so far the team have been experimenting with the line-up ? then the right results will follow.

If the experiments continue in matches against the Northern Cricket Union President?s XI in Armagh today and against Oman on Wednesday, it?s difficult to predict how Bermuda will fare when they open their ICC campaign with the toughest match possible against a buoyant Ireland side on Friday.

But if they bat as they did against Namibia last Friday no matter how they shuffle the order, there?ll be only one result.