Both coach Gus Logie and captain Clay Smith put on a brave face after this disappointing and demoralising defeat which opened Bermuda?s week-long tour of England on the worst possible note at the Esher CC ground in Surrey yesterday.

But a brutal assessment of the national team?s performance against a side made up of, at best, decent club players showed a squad lacking in areas which will be far more severely punished when the real business gets underway at the ICC Trophy in Ireland in just over a week?s time.

Although Bermuda, who defeated this same Lloyds team handily back on home turf earlier this year, could offer a number of excuses - the alien English conditions, fatigue from the previous day?s 17-hour flight and, not least, some dubious umpiring decisions - there was no masking their numerous shortcomings.

Few of the batsmen applied themselves against a mediocre Lloyds attack, the bowling lacked punch or penetration and the fielding was often far too casual.

Logie was right when he insisted afterwards that results in these ICC warm-up games matter little.But confidence does.

And as the team headed back to their hotel late last night, there was little doubt that the high spirits evident on their arrival at the Esher ground earlier in the day had largely dissipated.

Logie, however, remained upbeat: ?The conditions were trying, the ball was moving around a bit, and our players just aren?t used to these conditions yet,? he reasoned.

?At the end of the day I?ll take heart from this. We still made 206 despite the fact that some of our better batters never got going. Results at this stage are not going to matter for us. It?s a matter of seeing where we are and how we can build on our performances.?

Skipper Smith was slightly less enthusiastic.

?As a team I really wanted us to get off to a good start and get some momentum going. And from that point of view this defeat is a setback,? he said.

?But on a positive note, I think it was a good experience for our batsmen and our bowlers to get a good feel for these conditions, which are different from playing at home.

?It was much needed practice and good to have a tight game of this nature, but disappointing to lose at the end.

?The ball was swinging a bit and it was very hard to hit through the line of the ball, some were coming through, some were seaming through. But basically we just didn?t score enough runs, we should really have made 240 or 250 against a team like this.?

Although the 50-over contest went down to the wire, tailender James Harvey hitting the winning boundary off the second ball of Bermuda?s final over, in reality this was a game in which the visitors were always playing second fiddle.

The day didn?t get off to the best off starts when a road accident near the M25 motorway delayed the arrival of both sides, and the scheduled start by almost an hour.

And it didn?t get much better when, under bright blue skies, Bermuda saw their first two batsmen sent back to the pavilion in the opening three overs with just 12 runs on the board.

Veteran Albert Steede, who will be retiring from international cricket after this tour, was first to go for just four, adjudged lbw as he played well down the wicket to a ball that would almost certainly have soared over the bails.

Shaking his head in disbelief, he trudged off the field to be quickly followed by the in-form Chris Foggo who received a similar decision, also from a ball by paceman William Hantham.

OJ Pitcher, making a rare appearance as opener, and Irving Romaine set about repairing the damage, but it was slow work against a tight attack which often had the two batsmen playing and missing.

From 12 for two, Pitcher and Romaine took the score to 66, using up another 18 overs in the process.

And when Pitcher eventually let loose, going for a big hit on the square leg boundary, he was comfortably caught by James Godwin off Steve Cooper, having contributed 22.

Skipper Smith and Romaine upped the tempo but with the latter just four short of what would have been a deserved half century, he holed out to Godwin at mid-on off the bowling of Matt Bird.

With 25 overs already gone, Bermuda were wobbling at 86-4 but with Smith and Janeiro Tucker at the crease together, one sensed that would quickly change.

Showing no ill effects from his injured knee, Smith prodded and probed for a number of quick singles while Tucker masterfully got into his stride with a four off his first over.

The score rapidly moved past the century mark and at 125 for four after 34 overs, it still seemed Bermuda could post a challenging total.

But when seemingly set at 27 Smith drove straight back into the hands of bowler Cooper and in the next over Tucker, having made 15, was run out.

Lionel Cann managed only four before becoming the next casualty, caught by Godwin off Bird and at 139 for seven, Bermuda were in deep trouble.

Dean Minors, however, masterminded a mini-revival with a six and two fours in an entertaining knock of 38 and with Wendell White and Dennis Archer posting 11 and 13 respectively, the Island team at least reached 200, both the latter falling in the final over with the score on 206.

When Lloyds also lost their first two wickets with just nine on the board - White snaring both courtesy of the safe hands of Tucker and wicketkeeper Minors - it appeared that total might be defendable.

But opener Bob Marshall (22) and Alex Goward (40) comfortably added 50 for the third wicket against what quickly became a wayward and ineffective attack.

And after they departed Cooper (33) and Hantham (54) ensured the home were always on track to take back the Catlin Cup which the teams first played for back in March.

White (2-48), Dwayne Leverock (2-41) and Romaine (2-29) each captured two wickets while Cann and a run out accounted for the others.

Today, the team will gather at Horsham for an extended training session, while their opponents tomorrow will be Guernsey at the south coast town of Eastbourne, with what promises to be a particularly tough encounter against Namibia following at Hastings on Friday.

Saleem Mukkudem, who is due to join the squad today after a late arrival, and both Ryan Steede and Delyone Borden, who was suffering from a cold yesterday, are all expected to feature in those matches, as well as non-ICC squad member Stefan Kelly who has been invited by coach Logie to take part in at least one of the friendlies.

The team leave for Belfast in Northern Ireland on Saturday.