Travel problems continued to plague Bermuda?s national cricket squad for a second successive weekend.

What should have been a straightforward one-hour hop across the Irish Sea from London to Belfast on Saturday turned into an 16-hour nightmare.

And while the players were still scheduled to take part in a net practice yesterday afternoon, much of the day was spent in their city hotel catching up on lost sleep.

Having bowed to management?s wishes and checked out of their Horsham hotel in southern England on Saturday morning in order to accommodate a large wedding party, the players had expected no more than a few hours? wait when they arrived at Gatwick Airport.

Instead, they turned up to discover that their flight to Belfast had been cancelled and a replacement plane wouldn?t be available until late evening.

When they eventually boarded close to midnight, they were then informed that because of the late hour Belfast City Airport was closed and the plane would be diverted to Belfast International at Aldergrove, a 40-minute drive outside the city.

Still, however their problems weren?t over.

Coaches brought in to ferry all those on the late night flight were instructed to drive back to Belfast City Airport and not directly into the centre of Belfast.

It was at that point a tired and frustrated Bermuda team manager El James stepped in. A ?50 ($90) ?sweetener? was enough to encourage one of the coach drivers to take the Bermuda party directly to their hotel, and they finally checked in after 2.30 a.m. ?16 and a half hours after having checked out of their previous lodging.

?It?s unbelievable that we?ve suffered these problems for the second weekend,? said James, referring to the previous Sunday?s journey which saw the team endure a 17-hour trans-Atlantic flight following weather-related delays and diversions in North Carolina.

?The guys are very tired. It?s something we could have done without.?

Coach Gus Logie will be hoping the players recover in time for their penultimate ICC Trophy warm-up match today when they face an early morning hour?s drive to Armagh to take on the Northern Cricket Union?s President?s XI which will reportedly contain a number of Irish professional players.

It?s again expected that Logie will juggle his line-up, bringing back Ryan Steede, Dwayne Leverock, Irving Romaine and Dean Minors who all sat out last Friday?s match against Namibia.

He?s also likely to experiment with another opener, possibly Romaine, Wendell White or even skipper Clay Smith, to partner Albert Steede.

On two occasions last week OJ Pitcher opened the innings with Chris Foggo filling that role on Friday.

But so far none of those combinations have been able to give the team a solid foundation.

The game today will be followed by a final friendly on Wednesday against fellow tournament competitors Oman, with the ICC Trophy opening ceremony scheduled for Thursday and the first game against hosts Ireland on Friday.