Bermuda's first under-16 youth cricket tour in more than eight years was an overwhelming success, according to manager Randy Horton.

Horton, who is also chairman of the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control's development committee, said the tour proved that the future of Bermuda cricket was now in good hands.

The Island's youngsters returned home on Sunday with a three-win, one-loss record, the tour finale on Saturday having seen Bermuda defeat Canada by seven wickets with an outstanding performance by Mackie Crane who snatched five wickets for just eight runs.

In that deciding third match in the week-long international series, Canada were dismissed for 72 thanks to Crane's medium pace bowling while Bermuda replied with 73 for three with Shannon Raynor scoring an unbeaten 27 and Landro Minors 19.

"It was an excellent tour. There were some great things coming from it as we have established a group of young kids who have some outstanding natural ability. I think all we have to do is continue to work on them,'' said Horton.

But what excited Horton more than the team's impressive record was their overall attitude and commitment.

"It clearly showed that we have helped them to develop some positive attitudes and through the tour it was great to see them grow in their understanding of people and of each other,'' added the manager. "Just travelling together meant a lot.

"The fact that the boys came from all parts of the Island and there was still a bond that was really something to witness. We saw some outstanding young people representing Bermuda and their positive attitude is something all teams representing their country should have.'' Bermuda came up against some quality players on the tour and the fact that they lifted their own standard and remained competitive in their first appearance away from home was in itself an accomplishment, said Horton.

"We can say that an effort will now be made to make further steps to help them progress at a higher level,'' said Horton. "We definitely can see the benefits of starting the Shell and BF&M (youth) programmes, and for this we must thank our sponsors who provided the funding for the tour of Canada.

"Bermuda needs to know that we are serious about developing our youth because that's the only way we are going to have good teams. What the tour of Canada did was enable us to gauge where we are.

"We came up against some good players, they were outstanding in the spin department and they had a few good batsmen. One was Ashish Bagai who is 16 and has represented Canada in the Under-19 tournament in Trinidad this year where he was also the top bat.''