It wasn't quite the World Cup debut Bermuda had hoped for but against a ruthless and enormously talented Sri Lanka team who are tipped to go all the way,
It wasn’t quite the World Cup debut Bermuda had hoped for but against a ruthless and enormously talented Sri Lanka team who are tipped to go all the way, this crushing 243-run defeat wasn’t entirely unexpected either.
Having been hammered by 241 runs in a warm-up game by England last week, Bermuda stepped out at the immaculately prepared Queen’s Park Oval yesterday as huge underdogs.
And despite Bermuda’s travelling fans filling far more seats than those of their opponents, the huge chasm between these sides soon became evident.
Yet on an historic day in Bermuda sport, there were moments to cherish . . . such as the swashbuckling knock of 28 by Lionel Cann which included a massive six over mid-wicket off arguably the world’s best spin bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan.
Tailender Kevin Hurdle treated the master spinner with similar contempt, thumping an even bigger six clear over the Dos Santos stand.
They brought huge cheers from the flag-waving Island supporters, but sadly came late in the game when the result had already long been a foregone conclusion.
At one point, with their innings in tatters at 39 for seven, Bermuda were staring at the largest defeat in both World Cup and One-Day International history, needing to reach 65 to avoid such embarrassment.
That they did so was largely due to the late Cann heroics.
Fellow ICC Associate team, Namibia, who believed they were more deserving of a place here in the Caribbean than Bermuda, thus retain the dubious honour of being beaten by the largest margin in a World Cup match, having lost to the Australians by 256 runs at Potchefstroom in South Africa in 2003.
As for lowest totals in the World Cup, five teams have previously fared worse than Gus Logie’s men did yesterday — Canada the worst of the bunch after they were skittled out for 36 by this same Sri Lanka team in South Africa four years ago.
Those may represent some small consolation as Bermuda’s players reflect on a performance in which they were thoroughly outplayed, never remotely threatening the upset that some believed possible.
As early as the third over of the day, when pace bowler Hurdle conceded a whopping 24 runs including five no balls and three wides, it was clear that this would quickly become an exercise in damage control.
To his great credit, Hurdle bravely recovered from his nightmare start to return respectable figures of two for 61 off nine overs and also held a brilliant catch to dismiss Sri Lanka’s top bat, skipper Mahela Jayawardene (85) who, with wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara (76), added 150 for the third wicket.
It was that partnership that condemned Bermuda to a long day in the field, the two classy batsmen racing along at more than six an over.
Having won the toss and opted to bat, Sri Lanka quickly set a pace which forced Bermuda skipper Irving Romaine to continually chop and change his attack.
But with the total already on 62 after eight overs, medium pacer Saleem Mukuddem made the breakthrough — and history — by taking his side’s first-ever World Cup wicket when he enticed opener Sanath Jayasuriya (22) to smash a delivery to cover point where OJ Pitcher held a superb catch.
Then on the very next delivery, new batsman Jayawardene should have been following his team-mate back into the pavilion, but was let off the hook when Dwayne Leverock dropped a relatively straightforward chance in the slips.
It was a miss Bermuda would deeply regret, the skipper going on to compile his side’s top score.
Another wicket, however, did fall in the 12th over, a diving Dean Minors holding onto a catch down the leg side to dismiss Upul Tharanga for 30 off Hurdle.
With their opponents now on 78 for two, Bermuda will have been relatively happy with their position.
But for almost the next two hours the show belonged to Jayawardene and Sangakkara as they continued to pile on the runs, even the introduction of Leverock’s spin failing to slow their progress.
When they were finally separated, Sangakkara falling to a marvellous catch by Janeiro Tucker above his head on the boundary, the total had soared to 228, and with more than 12 overs still remaining and wickets in hand, there was little doubt Sri Lanka would go beyond 300.
Sangakkara hit six fours in an innings that lasted 83 balls.
Jayawardene and new bat Chamara Silva continued to keep the scorers busy and it was only in the last eight overs of the innings that Bermuda’s bowlers reaped some kind of reward, grabbing another three wickets as boundaries came thick and fast.
Jayawardene finally went in the 42nd over, superbly caught on the square leg boundary by Hurdle on the first ball of Cann’s second over. His knock of 85 included six fours and two sixes off 90 balls.
Tucker then took his second catch to dismiss Tillekeratne Dilshan off Hurdle for 12 with the total on 305 and although Cann then dropped Silva (55 not out) off Mukuddem in the final over, off the next ball Hemp held onto a drive from Farveez Maharoof (9) to snare the sixth wicket.
Another lusty blow from Silva, however, took Sri Lanka’s total to 321 as the 50 overs expired.
Mukuddem finished with more than respectable figures of two for 50 off 10, Janiero Tucker nought for 50 off ten, Leverock one for 67 off ten, Borden nought for 27 off three, Cann one for 34 off five and Romaine nought for 29 off three.
It was a target Bermuda could never realistically entertain, given their recent run of defeats in international matches and a previous ODI high of 275.
And when the first two wickets went down with just two runs on the board, once again it became purely a battle for survival. Opener Clay Smith, eager to rediscover his form at the crease, can count himself desperately unlucky after he was given out lbw in the first over to Chaminda Vaas to a ball that appeared to be heading down the leg side.
But there was no question about the dismissal of his replacement, Mukuddem, as he also departed without getting off the mark, edging to wicketkeeper Sangakkara off the very pacy Lasith Malinga.
It was Malinga, with his unorthodox sling action, firing balls down at more than 90 mph, who caused much of the early trouble.
OJ Pitcher and David Hemp eased Bermuda into double figures but just when it appeared these two might be able to stop the early rot, Hemp crashing a majestic four in his innings of 14, the Glamorgan skipper was undone by a superb Malinga delivery which he could only fend to second slip Jayawardene.
On the very next ball Malinga beat Romaine all ends up, the skipper trapped lbw in front of his middle stump.
Tucker denied the lively paceman his hat-trick but at 20 for four, Bermuda were now in deep trouble.Only another five runs were added before Malinga’s replacement, Farveez Maharoof, clean bowled Pitcher (6), and as is often the case with teams on the ropes, luck doesn’t go their way.
Dean Minors (4) will have been cursing his, as he was given out caught behind to a ball from Maharoof that TV replays confirmed he hadn’t touched.
Now with the score on 29 for six with just 12 overs gone, it was left to Cann to add a measure of respectability to the innings as he has done so often before. And he didn’t disappoint.
While Tucker perished for four with the total on 39, watching as a Muralitharan delivery spun off his bat and back onto the stumps, Cann decided there was no way to go other than over the top.
He crunched Maharoof to the long-on boundary for four and then dispatched Muralitharan for six.
At the other end Delyone Borden could manage only six before he became the eighth wicket to fall, caught by substitute fielder Nuwan Kulasekera off Maharoof.
Like Cann, Hurdle decided to take route one, launching Sri Lanka’s spin king over the stands but it was all much too little, much too late.
Cann was snapped up by Sangakkara off Maharoof, having compiled an entertaining and valuable 28 before Leverock brought the innings to a close, trapped lbw to the man he had proudly posed beside for photographers during training the day before.
Bermuda, quite predictably, had fallen a long way short of the target — but it will remain a day that will live long in their memory.
