Embarrassing, humiliating, shameful . . . the string of adjectives used to sum up Bermuda?s abject performance in last Friday?s Stanford 20-20 defeat to Jamaica won?t have surprised, nor offended, anyone.

From the national cricket team?s point of view, and the many thousands who follow them, this was as bad as it gets ? perhaps made even worse by the fact that the game was televised live throughout the region.

?How on earth could this team have reached the World Cup final?. That was likely the thought of many of those watching in the rest of the Caribbean.

Certainly the commentators, the renowned Tony Cozier included, didn?t pull any punches.

In the nicest possible way we were told ?Bermuda?s batting was woeful, their bowling even worse and why should we expect anything else from players lacking fitness and in many cases grossly overweight.? In a nutshell, that?s what they were saying.

Of course, it?s so easy to criticise after a team?s stumbled to the lowest total (74) in the entire tournament and then watched their opponents reach the target in a whirlwind five overs with a flurry of sixes.

The thumpings Bermuda endured at the hands of Namibia, United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe ? all since last summer?s glorious triumph ? were bad enough, each of them at some point described as a ?wake-up? call.

Well, guess what? Nobody seems to have woken up.

Friday?s mauling, thanks in part to TV, perhaps hammered home their numerous shortcomings more painfully than any defeat previously.

The players won?t have enjoyed the criticism they?ve had to suffer over the past week. But let?s not forget they are being paid, and thus held accountable to higher standards.

That said, one has to sympathise with Gus Logie. It?s difficult to know what more he can do.

At his disposal are quite clearly the best cricketers we have.

While there might still be a few players itching to be given a chance in the national team, nobody exceptional comes to mind.

There may be players in our top league with oodles of talent but lacking the commitment and sacrifice required by those in the national team. And there may be those willing to make that sacrifice, but lacking the talent. And there may also be some very promising juniors, many of whom played superbly at last week?s Sir Garfield Sobers Tournament in Barbados, but none of whom are ready to make the quantum leap into senior international cricket.

By and large, Logie has at his disposal the Island?s elite ? with the exception of Clay Smith, still recovering from surgery, and English county player David Hemp, who like Smith will join the squad later in the year.

And it?s on these players? shoulders that our hopes of avoiding a repeat drubbing at next year?s World Cup are firmly pinned.

If there?s any consolation for Logie and his charges, it?s that Friday?s result simply confirmed what most observers of the game ? those within the ICC included ? already know. The gulf between ICC Associate nations and Test nations is enormous.

While Jamaica aren?t a Test country, they had within their ranks seven players with Test experience. Some might argue the team fielded against Bermuda would certainly have also been strong enough to beat the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, two of the least successful Test nations.

Holland, who like Bermuda have also qualified for the World Cup, will know just how the local boys feel. Just a month ago they were slaughtered in two 50-over games against Sri Lanka ? conceding in the first match a world record 443 runs.

And our old rivals Canada, who will also be heading to the Caribbean next March, can hardly gloat.

Since qualifying for the World Cup they?ve twice been beaten by Bermuda, have not scored a victory of any note and are reportedly in total disarray both on and off the pitch.

Predictably, talk since last Friday has again turned to transforming the national squad into a full-time professional outfit, whereby they?d all give up their jobs and concentrate purely on the game.

But that plan, while ideal in the short term, has its pitfalls.

Many of the players are in their late 20s and 30s. Would they be guaranteed their jobs back if the cricket bubble bursts, if Bermuda suffer another trouncing at the World Cup?

Many employers are already bending over backwards to accommodate the players. Should they be expected to keep an open door for those wanting to return?

In any case, turning professional wouldn?t be the panacea to all of the team?s problems.

As the players have said themselves, last week?s debacle simply has to be put behind them and both individually and as a team they need to move on in the belief that the qualities that ensured their success at the ICC Trophy last summer will again come to the fore.

A lot more matches are scheduled between now and next March ? starting with three weeks in Canada next month when skipper Smith plans his international return.

Almost immediately the players have a chance to prove what transpired in Antigua was an aberration, that they?re not the whipping boys of the Caribbean as many who watched on TV last week will now believe.

They need to grab that opportunity with both hands and assure not only themselves but the rest of Bermuda that they?re a much better side than their last result would indicate.