A young and inexperienced Bermuda went down by 84 runs to Trinidadian club side Clico Preysal at a disappointingly empty National Sports Centre last night.

With the likes of Clay Smith, Irving Romaine and Janeiro Tucker all resting ? and with coach Gus Logie taking a backseat to allow his understudy Herbie Bascome to assume the coaching responsibilities ? yesterday?s game was clearly being used to experiment and allow those on the fringes of the squad to prove they were deserving of greater recognition.

Having lost the toss and been asked to field shortly before 3 p.m.., Bermuda bowled and fielded with distinction under the leadership of Dean Minors, restricting the visitors to 211 thanks in no small part to two excellent spells from seamer Ryan Steede (two for 33) and Bailey?s Bay offspinner Rodney Trott (two for 36).

As well as Bermuda performed in the field, however, the challenge of chasing a target over 200 under floodlights and facing a young, highly-rated West Indies fast bowler in Ravi Rampaul was clearly going to be tricky.

And so it proved, as an inspired Rampaul ripped the guts out of Bermuda?s top order with four wickets in his first three overs ? a powerful blow from which Bermuda never really recovered, despite the best efforts of a gritty Kwame Tucker who finished with 60.

Rampaul?s electric opening spell saw debutant Chris Douglas palpably lbw without scoring, opener David Ferreira undone by nasty short one which he could only fend away from his throat into the hands of Preysal?s ?keeper and Azeem Pitcher, and then Minors, comprehensively castled without troubling the scorers.

Two painstaking partnerships between first Tucker and Stephen Bremar (8), and then Tucker and Jones (16) went some way to repairing the damage, and at five down with 20 overs to go, Bermuda needed to score at six an over to secure victory.

But once Jones? promising knock was cut short, when he cut straight into the hands of backward point, the writing was on the wall and the innings petered out after that following a succession of desperation shots and a close run out.

Earlier, the afternoon started promisingly for Bermuda as the bowlers exerted some excellent pressure over Preysal with both the new and old ball.

Bowling from the southern end, Ryan Steede made the first breakthrough, inducing a top-edged hook from opener Miguel Nedd which forced wicketkeeper Tucker to sprint 20 metres to his left to pouch the difficult skier.

Replacing him soon after was the exciting young allrounder Malachi Jones, who made his international debut on Bermuda?s recently-concluded tour of Canada.

With only his fourth delivery, he had the highly-dangerous Denesh Ramdin taken at second slip by David Ferreria from a ball which left the West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman off the seam ? yet further evidence of why he is so highly regarded.

With arguably the visitors best player back in the hutch, Bermuda pressed home their advantage ? taking wickets at regular intervals despite a middle-innings onslaught from Preysal skipper Shazan Babwah ? who took up from where he left off the night before against a Western Counties XI with a powerful innings of 73 at better than a run-a-ball.

A late-innings surge from tail enders Anderson Bryce (26) and Keegan Roy (22) helped to drag the visitors total beyond the 200 mark, though Bermuda?s bowlers never once lost their heads and were backed up by some exemplary fielding ? Ryan Steede?s full length diving catch at mid on to dismiss Keshara Ramphal the standout from an excellent collection.

Meanwhile, the second game scheduled to take place today has been moved to tomorrow starting again at the 3 p.m..

The Bermuda Cricket Board are asking the public to come out in force to support the national side, particularly given that tomorrow?s game could be the last opportunity for anybody to see them in action on local soil before the World Cup begins in March of next year.