Record breaker David Hemp heaped praise on his team-mates after plundering the biggest individual score in Intercontinental Cup history at the L.C.DeVilliers Oval yesterday.

Hemp, who finished unbeaten on 247 in Bermuda’s total of 620, smashing the previous mark of 220 set by Kenya’s Steve Tikolo, said he couldn’t have done it without the help of the team’s tailenders.

“I was lucky enough to be batting with players who were applying themselves and not getting carried away, and were prepared to work hard at getting their runs,” said the Glamorgan county skipper who only made his Bermuda debut earlier this month in Kenya.

“All credit to the boys who batted low down the order, they didn’t throw it away, they knuckled down, and that certainly helped me get to the record. Obviously I’m delighted to get a double hundred and break the record.

“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t push a result at the end, the wicket proved to be a bit flatter than we thought so from a team perspective it was disappointing we could only get a draw.

“But we can take a lot of positives from this game, the fact that we scored 620, it’s been a great team effort over the last four days.”

Having spent 525 minutes at crease, facing 373 balls, Hemp believed that was another personal record.

“I don’t think I’ve ever batted that long,” he smiled. “My father’s always going on at me about spending time at the crease. So he’ll be pretty happy about that.”

Meanwhile, if Hemp was delighted with his performance, there was no one in the Bermuda team happier than big Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock who, batting at number nine, scored his first-ever international half-century in a magnificent record-breaking eighth-wicket stand of 132 with Hemp.

“Oh, I’m so happy,” he said. “My first 50 . . . I’d just like to thank my daughter and my mother for their support.

“It was a grind, working with Hemp, we just hung around and the 50 was a bonus. But I definitely enjoyed it.

“This gives us a lot of confidence, knowing we can compete like this at the international level. A lot of people don’t think we can and I think this game here shows what we can do.”

Sluggo happy with first 50