IT'S been a long time coming, but Bermuda's national cricket team have suddenly rediscovered the form which earned them international recognition and passage into the last World Cup.

Results on the current Caribbean tour as the side warm up for their trip next month to South Africa where they will again attempt to qualify for the sport's showpiece event, have been both timely and enormously encouraging.

It's almost as though coach Gus Logie, out of the blue, has seen his team realise the potential which he has always maintained was there to be tapped.

As the squad enter their final match today, they boast an impressive 8-2 record, three of those wins arriving this week in convincing fashion.

Skeptics might point out those results have been posted at the expense of largely developing sides in St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Grenada – but history shows that such islands have produced a string of Test match players. And even their youth sides should not be underestimated.

The fact that Windies player Ramnaresh Sarwan has complimented Bermuda on the talent displayed by those in the current crop is an indication of how much the squad have improved.

Since success at the ICC Trophy in Ireland four years ago, there have certainly been more lows than highs, leaving the public to question whether or not Bermuda Cricket Board were deserving of the $15 million invested by Government.

But a side almost unrecognisable from that which competed in the World Cup in Trinidad in 2007 has suddenly grown in stature.

What has been most encouraging in the last few weeks is the improvement in so many areas, notably the top order.

For years Logie has struggled to find an opening partnership, to build a foundation which would allow the rest of the batsmen to get into a comfort zone and play their normal game. Too often the middle order have been forced to play off the back foot, playing with caution just to ensure some kind of respectable total.

Now with the likes of Chris Douglas, Stephen Outerbridge, Fiqre Crockwell, even the swashbuckling Lionel Cann, all relishing the prospect of dismantling the opponents' bowling attack, the rest of the bats are being given a chance to play with more freedom.

As for Bermuda's own attack, in the past the pressure has frequently been put on Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock to dig the team out of a hole. But his efforts alone often weren't sufficient.

Now fellow spinners such as Rodney Trott and Delyone Borden appear to be playing better than ever and the unpredictable but fiery George O'Brien is giving opening bats on the other side plenty to think about.

Logie is experienced enough to know that there's still a long way to go if Bermuda are to achieve what only a few months ago seemed unthinkable – qualifying for yet another World Cup.

But inside he might be quietly confident that he now has at his disposal all the ingredients to do just that.

For sure, what he's witnessed this month has been a winning mentality, confidence and sky-high morale, all of which were nowhere to be seen last summer and many months before that.

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A FEW paragraphs at the end of last week's Forum, criticising the Premier's decision to send a letter of congratulations to the hapless national women's hockey team who were severely battered in the recent Pan Am tournament, hosted by Bermuda, apparently outraged and incensed certain members of the sport's inner circle.

Team manager Kirsten Faria and Wendell Hollis, whose daughter played in the team and whose wife served as assistant manager, were particularly scathing in letters to this paper – both conveniently skirting around the problems facing the sport.

Those who read the articles published in yesterday's edition will have realised ladies' hockey is in utter turmoil.

President Mark Mello lambasted the coaches for not doing their job, and a strong inside source revealed those same coaches were dismayed and in many ways shocked by what they believed was administraive incompetence.

And in the middle of this mess were the players themselves who were thrown into the recent international tournament like lambs to the slaughter.

They suffered a series of double-digit defeats, including an astonishing 25-0 thumping from hockey superpowers Argentina. That result equated to Bermuda conceding a goal roughly every two and a half minutes throughout the entire game, taking into account the time it gets to retrieve the ball from the back of net and restart the match .

But, of course, the players shouldn't have been put into that position in the first place. You can't run if you haven't learned to walk.

Yet Mello attempted to defend the decision to enter an event for which they had qualified only by virtue of the fact they were hosts. Ability seemingly was never considered.

He even boasted that despite the dispiriting results, his side had soared up the world rankings as other countries had been unable to enter for an assortment of reasons, mostly economic. That lift in the rankings, he said, would enable the team to get a better draw in future international tournaments.

But those rankings create a false impression. His immediate thoughts should be focused on ensuring Bermuda can produce a team worthy of international competition.

Ranking points have to be earned, they shouldn't have to be presented on a platter.

Currently the team wouldn't be considered a force anywhere outside of Prospect, let alone in the Pan Am region.

No, winning is not the be all and end all. It's the competing that counts.

But what transpired at the NSC this month was not competition, it was annihilation. Both the administrators and the coaches who put their players in that position must shoulder the blame.

Those running the sport here, rather than take responsibility for this embarrassment, have attempted to put a positive spin on the entire episode. They have failed miserably.

As our reports on the games indicated, the girls tried their very best (although other reports are now surfacing that in the past there have been problems regards indiscipline and failure to train).

But if Mello, Faria, Hollis and others concerned about the sport believe recent experiences were integral to the local hockey development programme, they might want to hand over their voluntary services to those who might better understand what is required when representing the country.

The intention of last week's remarks in this column were to point out that the Premier should never have sent out his letter of congratulations as it completely devalued much more impressive performances in other sports, both past and present. Where does such correspondence start and stop? Has the Premier's Press Secretary got nothing better to do in return for his six-figure salary paid out of the public purse?

Hollis, defending that message from the Premier in one of his letters to this writer, made the comparison between Bermuda's losses to that of the Uruguayan rugby team who were thrashed 111-13 by England in the 2003 World Cup. He might want to check whether that team were welcomed home by then President Jorge Batlle Ibanez when they returned to Montevideo. Certainly, there's no record of them receiving a letter.

Given South America's human rights record, it was more likely they were imprisoned.

(And before anyone suggests otherwise, I'm not advocating the hockey team should be jailed!)

Hollis went on to challenge this writer to a public debate, as if the public would be even remotely interested in the two of us squabbling over the sport.

I informed him that because of brain surgery which has slightly impaired my speech, I couldn't accept his challenge.

But I'll take this opportunity to invite him and his friends to accompany me on a trip to Johns Hopkins Hospital in a couple of weeks' time where I'm due to meet neurosurgeon Dr. Alfredo Quinones.

Perhaps we could all get our heads examined.

– ADRIAN ROBSON