National cricket coach Gus Logie yesterday played down suggestions that his side would be considered the underdogs entering this week’s inaugural World One-Day League tournament in Kenya.

Asked at a press conference on the eve of their opening game against the hosts at the Jaffrey’s Sports Club in Nairobi today whether his team were a match for the other five Associate nations, all of whom have also qualified for this year’s World Cup, Logie insisted Bermuda had sufficient talent to win the competition outright.

“We have been the underdogs ever since we qualified for the World Cup. Fifteen teams could have qualified, but we were one of them . . . and ever since it’s been an uphill battle,” said Logie.

“But we’ve had some good results and we do feel we belong in this group (World One-Day League) and we believe that we can do well, so we’re looking forward to the competition.

“It’s always been clear since we started on this campaign that our objective was to be the best in the Americas.

“We’ve gone some way to achieving that, and our second objective was to try and be the best of the Associates and this week is as good an opportunity as any for us to start proving that.”

Looking back on Saturday’s victory over Uganda, the coach said there was evidence that some of the team’s leading players were hitting top form at the right time.

Questioned by an Irish journalist about how the acquisition of David Hemp had helped the side, Logie said the Glamorgan skipper had proved an invaluable addition... “not only in terms of his runs but in terms of his experience, what he brings to the team in terms of professionalism. And he’s been willing to share that with other players who have benefited. That’s been a big asset for the team.

“But other players are hitting form. We saw yesterday Lionel Cann scoring 71 runs, the captain himself is coming into some good form, he scored 52 yesterday. We have (Dwayne) Leverock who been very consistent in the last year or so.

“The victory on Saturday was very satisfying. We did have some difficult sessions... within that win there were things that we didn’t do. There’s room for improvement but at the end of the day winning was good for the confidence of the players.

“This team has the ability to raise its game when it’s needed, and I’m trusting that they will, starting tomorrow against Kenya.” Meanwhile, in response to another question from the floor, Romaine told a group of international journalists — more than 50 will be covering this week’s tournament — he and his players continually had to deal with a Bermuda public with “unrealistic high expectations.”

“It’s in our culture . . . we qualify for the World Cup and some people at home seem to think we can win the World Cup,” he said.

“There’s a problem in that we don’t have a home ground. So they (Bermuda public) don’t get to see us play, they get what the media print.

“We’ve had some wins, some losses and they dwell mostly on the losses which is the sad part of it. They (the public) don’t seem to realise the level we’ve got to.

“It took us a time to qualify for the World Cup and now we’re dominating the Americas, but people expect us to dominate against a bunch of professionals . . . it’s hard, it’s always an uphill battle but I think we can handle the pressure and I think we can always do well.” Pressed on criticism the Bermuda team had taken last year for their lack of mobility in the field, Romaine said: “We’re not the youngest team, I can say that. But we have been working on it . . . our field positions and cutting off angles and things like that.

“We can’t turn back the clock, we have to work with what we have and I think we’re doing a good job, we are getting better.”

Of today’s tournament opener against Kenya, Romaine added: “We don’t feel threatened by them. They did beat us 3-0 in the last series, there won’t be any surprises. It’s a new game of cricket and we’re up for it.”

Steve Tikolo, the Kenyan skipper who has twice scored double centuries against Bermuda, said he wouldn’t be dwelling on those innings entering today’s match.

“It’s a new day, a new game,” he said.

“We respect Bermuda, we know we’ll have to be at our best to beat them.”