So much so that Gus Logie and his men came perilously close to missing their connection to Kenya early yesterday morning.

Faced with what should have been a comfortable two-hour transfer by bus from Gatwick airport, south of London, to Heathrow airport to the city?s west, following an overnight flight from Bermuda, the players made it onboard with just minutes to spare.

Concern was such that lanky Ryan Steede, no doubt chosen because his giraffe-like stride tends to cover ground a tad quicker than some of his team-mates, was sent on ahead as the team filtered through security to warn airline staff at the gate that the rest of the team were indeed on their way.

As ?last call for boarding? flashed on the departures screen, ?the rest? finally emerged, having had to leg it through almost a quarter of a mile of corridors to the Terminal Four outpost . . . all good practice perhaps for when the real running gets under way this weekend.

While the temptation to grab 40 winks might have been too great for some, others couldn?t resist tuning into a highlights package of last summer?s epic Ashes battle between Australia and England.

After all with England?s Freddie Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Vaughan et al looming as Bermuda?s first opponents in the World Cup warm-ups in St. Vincent next March, the local lads may have picked up some useful tips.