Carry on winning momentum – Logie
Injury-prone Bermuda return to the scene of one of their most humbling defeats in St.Vincent today determined to continue their winning ways on a whirlwind tour of the Caribbean.
Gus Logie's side have won four of the five matches they have played so far and will look to carry on in the same vein when they clash with St.Vincent's Under-23 squad at Arnos Vale – the venue where they folded for 45 in a massive 241-run loss to Test side England in a World Cup warm up match nearly two years ago.
More recently Bermuda have managed wins against Trinidadian Premier champions Connection Wanderers, University of Trinidad and Tobago, a St.Lucia XI and a St.Lucia President's XI.
Victory, however, has not come without a price as injuries have taken their toll in the bowling department where seamers George O'Brien jr, Jacobi Robinson and Delyone Borden have all been struck down by foot injuries.
Robinson injured himself attempting to take a catch on the boundary, O'Brien was struck by a return throw while Borden injured himself in training.
Kevin Hurdle, whose services could prove invaluable during April's World Cup qualifiers in South Africa, has yet to play on tour. The Social Club skipper underwent knee surgery last November and is expected to regain match fitness by the end of Bermuda's month-long tour.
All-rounder Janeiro Tucker is also making a steady recovery from minor knee surgery and last week claimed two for 39 in Bermuda's 36 run win over a Darren Sammy-led St.Lucia President's XI.
On the local front veteran batsman Glenn Blakeney is expected to recover from a back and shoulder injury that ruled him out of Bermuda's current tour of the Caribbean.
Injury concerns aside, coach Logie says he is generally satisfied by his team's overall commitment and the manner in which they have responded to the rigid demands being placed on them.
"We have been doing a lot of work and have seen some improvement in certain areas. But there are other areas which still need a lot of work and that is what we will be focusing on," he said, shortly before boarding a flight from St.Lucia to St.Vincent yesterday. "We have played five games and have won four and so that in itself is a positive.
"I think our confidence is good and everyone is supporting each other. Now we are just hoping to have everybody fit for the next leg of the tour because we are still suffering from a few injuries, especially with the bowlers."
The dilemmas of Robinson, O'Brien and Borden could not have arrived at a more inappropriate time as the trio seemd to be gathering momentum when their tours were interrupted by injury.
Robinson claimed four for 46 in a losing cause against South Castries a week ago in St.Lucia – his team's only loss on tour to date – while two days later O'Brien smashed an unbeaten 49 and claimed four for 49 against a St.Lucia President's XI.
Borden also appeared to be shifting through the gears just before injuring himself, claiming two for 21 and dominating an unbroken eighth-wicket stand with Robinson that guided Bermuda to victory over Connection Wanderers.
Bermuda have impressed with the ball while their fielding has also earned the praise of coach Logie. However, the same cannot be said for the team's batting which has largely been held together by the consistency of Lionel Cann and Stephen Outerbridge.
"We have seen consistency from Lionel Cann and Stephen Outerbridge but haven't seen any from some of the other players.
"What we are seeing is a lack of concentration that has not allowed some of our guys to carry on to big scores. And we need some of our guys to get more hungry in the middle," Logie said.
The mercurial Cann already has two half-centuries under his belt and is currently averaging 45 on tour while Outerbridge enjoyed solid knocks of 43 and 31 against a St.Lucia President's XI and also hit 44 against Connection Wanderers.
Logie added: "Lionel has been head and shoulders above the others in terms of the way he is striking the ball and hopefully this will give more confidence to some of the others. We still need other individuals to step up big time.
"We need our batsmen to put big scores up on the board. In one of our games (against St.Lucia President's XI) we failed to bat out our 50 overs which is not something we expect because we have enough quality batsmen in our team to do so."