HAMILTON: Namibia (20pts) 320 & 153-9 dec beat Bermuda 175 & 195 by 103 runs.

A Bermuda defeat, a fine innings from Stephen Outerbridge, and a squad full of promise falling just short once more, all things that have contributed to the strange sense of deja vu that has been hanging over the National Sports Centre for the past couple of days.

Throughout the season this Bermuda side has played well in patches, but they have also played poorly in parts, and unfortunately have been punished dearly for it.

Despite the defeat on Saturday there are reasons to be hopeful that this is a side that can, and will eventually, succeed. There are changes that need to be made, and some players have to decide how committed they are, but it is not without hope.

There is the beginnings of a good team and maybe now is the time to bring in several more younger players as well.

Bermuda had only one fast-bowler for the majority of the game, and with George O'Brien prone to injury, and Malachi Jones not wanting to play, the time may have come to give Jordan DeSilva and others their chance.

The personnel will matter little however if Bermuda do not begin to learn from their mistakes, both individually and as a team.

Fighting to save the game on Saturday, they collapsed again, slipping to 68-6, only to be offered a glimmer of hope by Outerbridge (78) and Borden (15) who put on 98 for the seventh wicket and for a time looked like they might be able to save the day.

Outerbridge in particular was impressive, proving that with a little concentration, the four-day game is not such a difficult one. Borden did exactly the right thing as well, facing 99 balls in his innings and proving the perfect foil for his partner.

That they fell short was due to the mistakes that were made in the previous three days, including allowing Namibia to score 40 more runs than they should have done in the first innings.

However credit must also go to Namibia's Jan-Berrie Burger who had one of those days that bowlers dream about.

The Namibia spinner took six wickets on Saturday, including removing Outerbridge just as his side might have been getting a little jumpy, and on a turning pitch tied Bermuda in knots.

It was Namibia's sixth consecutive win in this year's ICC Intercontinental Cup, and puts them a step closer to a place in the final.

"The spinners did an excellent job," said Louis Burger, the Namibia captain.

"It was a spinners track and JB (Burger) bowled very well on it, he'll probably want to take that pitch home with him.

"He bowled very well for us, and overall I'm pretty proud of the guys and the way they played.

"I think we have a 95% chance of getting into the final at the moment.

"We still have to play Ireland now, and they need to play Kenya, and we are the three teams looking to go through (to the final), so anything can happen.

"We will have to look at all the scenarios, but we have a bit of an advantage because we play Ireland at home.

"I think we've played some good cricket, we played six, won six, and we deserve to be in the final.

"Hopefully we can go on playing the type of cricket that we have been, I'm happy and very proud of the guys."