|-- THE BEST SPORTS DEBATE IN BERMUDA --|

Where have all the pace bowlers gone?

James Whittaker
The norm for any international cricket side is to have three or four seamers and a couple of spinners. Bermuda’s gone the opposite way. The squad for the Americas is stuffed with quality slow bowlers and only Stefan Kelly and Justin Pitcher in the pace department. It’s great that we’re producing so many decent spinners, and I understand that in Bermuda had to opt for players that were available and had been training regularly — hence the omission of Kevin Hurdle and George O’Brien. But it will be incredibly tough to win too many matches with a two-man pace attack. If one of those guys gets injured or hit out of the attack, then you could see 40-plus overs of spin. Far from an ideal situation in one-day cricket. More worrying, in the longer term, is the fact that all Bermuda’s best prospects, with the exception of Jordan DeSilva, seem to be spinners. Regino Smith, Marcus Johnson, Tre Govia – the list goes on. What we don’t seem to be able to produce consistently are quality fast bowlers.

Minnows get their chance

James Whittaker
Looks like there’s still some magic left in the FA Cup. Fears that the Commercial teams wouldn’t get any ‘glamour ties’ against Premier opposition because of the new format seem to have been unfounded. Three Commercial teams — Tuff Dogs, MR Onions and Robin Hood — beat First Division opposition this weekend to earn their spot in the last 16. Onions got drawn against North Village, Tuff Dogs got Southampton Rangers and Robin Hood got Colts. So there’s still a chance for the minnows to upset the big boys. Cougars v Dandy Town was the only all Premier clash while Somerset Trojans will face PHC, Somerset Eagles will play Parish, Prospect take on Ireland Rangers and Boulevard are at home against BAA.

Putting the brake on breaks

James Whittaker
After a cricket season full of football — the Hogges, the ISL, the World Cup, the Digicel Cup —  we’re now into what used to be known as the football season and we’re getting nothing but breaks. The Premier Division just took a three-week hiatus for the FA Cup first and second round, which no longer include the top eight teams. There are games this weekend and then there is another break. By mid December some of the teams in the top division will have played just five games. How are teams supposed to find any rhythm, build momentum or even keep players interested in training when they have virtually every other weekend off? At the end of the day it’s the paying customers that suffer. Lack of match practice leads to scrappy, disjointed football. The players want to play every week, the fans want to watch competitive football. So why all the breaks?

FA Cup first round: the big yawn

Don Burgess
Just in case you missed it, the new and improved FA Cup kicked off week before last. It involved all Commercial League teams and I popped my head into a couple of games - very, very small crowds. One game couldn't have had more than 50 spectators. Obviously someone cares, but the gate for those games weren't very big. The media coverage was just as small. The new format may prove to make for exciting later rounds but the first round is now one big sleeping pill.

New sports minister

Don Burgess
The revolving door has to stop. Seriously. I know people are yammering on about having six education ministers in the last 10 years, but thy same thing keeps happening to sports as well. You'll get no argument from me that education is more important, but the principle of having one steady hand at the helm for a few years applies to both ministries. Over the last three years we've had Dale Butler, Randy Horton, El James and now Glenn Blakeney. They're all great guys and I don't have a problem with any of them, but please Dr. Brown allow one of them to settle down and stay for a while. Blakeney will now have to sit down and meet with the leaders of the various 36 sporting bodies, something that El James finished doing a few months back. Hopefully, we won't be announcing a new sports minister for a couple of years, but I wouldn't hold my breath.