At the end of Bermuda's final training session before today's back-to-back Twenty20 matches against Canada and the West Indies, head coach David Moore held a long hit competition.

The task was simple. See who could hit the ball the furthest from a standing start, with Moore gently lobbing the ball in from the side.

A bit of fun maybe, but there was a seriousness behind the drill. Of the ten no-balls that the West Indies bowled against Bermuda on Wednesday, not one of the subsequent free hits made it to the boundary. And much of that was down to bad technique, as it was with the slowness of the outfield.

Moore spent ten minutes trying to get his players to work on a baseball-like approach to the free hit, because passing up 40 runs or more in a game is not something you can do very often and still win.

In the end Delyone Borden hit the ball the furthest in yesterday's drill, while honourable mentions also go to Kyle Hodsoll, Malachi Jones, and David Hemp.

Of all the versions of the game, being inventive with your batting is possibly more important in Twenty20 than anything else. And with the games being played at a postage-stamp Malton ground, that is as slow on the wicket as it is in the outfield, that ability takes on added significance.

Considerably smaller than the National Sports Centre, the size of the ground may make Bermuda feel at home, but skipper David Hemp said that wouldn't necessarily equate to more runs.

"The boundaries are closer, but it is tough on this ground because the ball's not running, and ironically you probably get more value for shots in the air than you do for ones on the ground," he said.

"Because obviously the ball slows up, so even if you hit it fairly well, if does get through the infield it slows up ten yards past.

"Yes, the grounds are smaller but then you have the quality bowlers that you are facing. You're not going to get too many bad balls to put away, so you have to make decent balls, or good balls, into balls that you can hit. That's going to make a difference, how well we can execute those skills.

"So (it's about) coming down the wicket to make a decent ball into one that you can hit over the top, using your crease if the ball is slightly short, or moving your feet to get back and pull it, whatever the case maybe.

"But the quality of bowling is going to be better so you don't get as many bad balls, so you have to adapt to that."

A pitch that was slow and docile on Wednesday, was equally so during the West Indies game with Canada on Thursday, when the two teams managed less than 250 runs between them. It will be the same wicket for today and spin is king this week.

That means that at some stage Moore is likely to play three spinners today, with Rodney Trott and Tamauri Tucker almost certain to play their first games of the tour.

"It's a little bit slow for the seamer, keeps a little bit on the low side, but it spins, and the outfield is fairly long, and slow and heavy, so those are things we have to take into consideration when we think about how we are going to approach it," said Hemp.

Long hit champion, and potential pinch-hitter Borden will also play a prominent role and Hemp said it was good to have the St David's man back in the side.

"It's good to have him back, he's a good cricketer," said Hemp. "He was in 2007 and he's a character anyway, which is important in a team environment.

"He's a good off-spinner, which he's proved before. He's useful with the bat and he also gives us another dimension in the field, so from that perspective it's great to have him around, because he is the all-round cricketer."

n Bermuda's first game today is against West Indies at 1.00 p.m. Bermuda time, with their second game against Canada due to start at 4 p.m. Bermuda time. You can follow both games live on our website, www.royalgazette.com.