There was a whiff of inevitability in the room yesterday morning as Cricket Board president Reggie Pearman read out the 15 names who are to represent Bermuda at the World Cup.

Normally in circumstances where a team has been on the receiving end of an almighty hammering, (as was the case at the World Cricket League in Kenya, bar the fantastic win over Scotland) selectors with more players to choose from would surely have been tempted to wield the axe.

But as chairman of selectors Arnold Manders has said before, they have never had the pleasure of that luxury.

And with a little over a month to go before the opening game against Sri Lanka on March 15, it was a safe bet to assume there would be no eleventh-hour surprises.

The big news, of course, was the inclusion of young Malachi Jones, who at 17 years and 232 days will become the second-youngest player in World Cup history should he play at any stage.

The progress the Southampton Rangers all-rounder has made in the last year is nothing short of remarkable. As a batsman, his potential has been there for all to see, though it is his bowling which has really caught the eye in the last eight months or so.

Blessed with a beautifully smooth and natural action ? as well as a strong, supple body ? he generates impressive pace for one so young and should only get quicker as he heads towards his twenties. Coach Gus Logie has talked in glowing terms about Jones? maturity and level-headedness ? qualities he will need to draw on heavily should he end up gracing the spacious confines of the Queen?s Park Oval.

Since George O?Brien fell by the wayside ? having inexcusably squandered his chance to lead the side?s new-ball attack because of his apparent aversion to hard work and personal sacrifice ? the team have been in desperate need of a bowler capable of taking his place.

The likes of Jones and 18-year-old Stefan Kelly may not be quite ready for the task just yet, but they are clearly the long-term options. The selectors deserve immense credit for having the courage and the wisdom to include them.

While the batsmen, all-rounders and spinners essentially picked themselves, anybody listening in on the selection meetings would no doubt have heard plenty of debate on two issues: whether to include a third spinner (Rodney Trott) instead of an extra seamer and if not, what the identity of that third seamer should be.

As it turned out, Logie hinted yesterday that Trott had simply not demonstrated the consistency of commitment required to make the squad, so it would ultimately have come down to a decision between the quicker men.

Kevin Hurdle eventually got the nod at the expense of other candidates ? presumably Ryan Steede and Arthur Pitcher jr ? though frankly none of them would have been particularly inspiring options.

Perhaps understandably, Steede is distraught at having missed out, and says as much in today?s story. He also feels as if he was not given the proper opportunity to prove he had recovered from the back injury and the hernia that kept him out of the recently-concluded tour.

It?s for others to judge whether his claims have any validity, though it?s probably true that it would have been a straight shoot-out between him and Hurdle for the one remaining slot.

Both have been inconsistent performers over the past 18 months, something demonstrated never-more vividly than in Kenya where the Social Club quick had serious issues at times with his direction and control.

In fairness, he improved greatly towards the end of the tournament and Logie knows deep down that when his body, mind and action are in sync, he is capable of producing some good pace and steep bounce ? the latter something that troubles good players more than any movement through the air or off the seam.

But the reality is he is just not going to do a better job with the new ball than either Jones or Kelly.

And assuming Saleem Mukuddem is to come into the attack at first change, and spinners Dwayne Leverock and Delyone Borden are both going to play, there is an argument for leaving Hurdle out of the side.

However, reservations about picking such a young opening attack will probably end up counting in his favour.

So, after 18 months of seemingly continuous action, the best 15 cricketers at the Island?s disposal will head south to fulfil what for many of them will have seemed like an impossible dream prior to that glorious Irish summer day in 2005.

As our brief involvement in the Stanford 20-20 tournament last July showed, playing cricket can be a frighteningly tough business when confronted with vastly-superior opponents as well as the added scrutiny of television cameras and the merciless pronouncements of the international press.

Given recent results, public expectation is at an all-time low.

But minnows such as Canada and Kenya have embarrassed better teams than them at World Cups gone by.

Such is cricket?s glorious unpredictability, you just cannot say for certain what could happen when our boys take a collective deep breath and trot out onto the grandest sporting stage they?ll ever know.