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Can we do it?

By Don Burgess
Yes we can! If we can just get Barack Obama on board the possibilities are endless for our cricket team as they aim to qualify for the World Cup in 2011. The loss of Chris Douglas is a bit of blow, but Bermuda still has enough talent to finish in the top four and make it back to cricket's biggest stage. How do you think our team will do? My colleague James Whittaker is in South Africa to cover the team and he's predicting a top four finish.

Borden is a big loss

By Lionel Cann
The loss of Delyone Borden from our World Cup qualifying squad is a huge blow. In my view he is as valuable to our team as Shane Warne was to Australia or Muttiah Muralitharan to Sri Lanka. I believe he has been our top spinner over the past 18 months and it will be doubly hard to qualify without him in the team.
The decision not to select him because of the issues on the recent tour is very disappointing.
There is much more to the story than people know and I am sure the truth will eventually come out.
In my experience Delyone is a player that has always given 100 per cent and I would ask people not to judge him too harshly.
He obviously has to take his share of the blame and maybe he should have handled the situation differently.
This is the third time I have been with him on tour and his pay has not come through. It happened at the World Cup in 2007 and again at the Americas Championship in Florida last year.
Maybe he should have taken the higher ground and played on, but everybody has a breaking point.
I know he was offered an advance by the board but I think by that point the damage had already been done.
Everybody could see that he was down and was in no mood to play cricket. He didn’t walk off the pitch in the middle of a game, he asked to be substituted because he was not in the mood to play.
I’m not excusing that but I understand where he is coming from. He felt let down and he was not in the right frame of mind to play.
Everyone has to take a share of the blame in this, including Delyone. But the worst thing about it is that this could have been avoided if things had been handled properly from the start.
We’ve been contracting players for four years now and it’s a shame to lose a player on the eve of one of the biggest tournaments in our history because of something like this. I hope that Delyone bounces back. He’s always shown a good attitude in the past and I think it would be unfair to judge him solely on the basis of what has happened over the past few weeks.

Borden, Hurdle miss out

Picture: Delyone Borden
By Don Burgess
Okay, here's the squad: Irving Romaine (Captain), David Hemp (vice-captain), Chris Douglas, Fiqre Crockwell, Lionel Cann, Stephen Outerbridge, Jekon Edness, Janiero Tucker, Glenn Blakeney, Dwayne Leverock, Rodney Trott, Tamauri Tucker, Stefan Kelly, Kyle Hodsoll, George O'Brien. Reserve: Jacobi Robinson, Jordan DeSilva, Kevon Fubler. I missed on Jacobi, Delyone and Hurdle. It's still a strong squad with youngsters Hodsoll and Tucker likely to be lightly-used.

Decision day approaches

Pictured: David Hemp
By Don Burgess
The cricket team will conclude its successful tour today - so successful that several players that may have been on the fringe of the selectors minds they have to be serious contenders to be picked. I'm going to toss out 15 names who I think should be on the squad and would like you to put up your 15 as well. In no particular order: Irving Romaine, David Hemp, Sluggo, Lionel Cann, Chris Douglas, Kevin Hurdle, George O'Brien, Stefan Kelly, Rodney Trott, Delyone Borden, Glenn Blakeney, Janeiro Tucker, Fiqre Crockwell, Stephen Outerbridge and Jacobi Robinson.

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.

What home advantage?

Lionel Cann Home advantage…. What home advantage? I’ve been waiting to play in front of a home crowd since we qualified for the World Cup. Now, after my first international game in Bermuda for over four years, I’m starting to think I prefer playing away. No spectators, nothing but negative remarks and the ball turning square is not what I’d call home field advantage. I don’t need to say too much about the pitch. It wasn’t the worst I’ve played on but 18 wickets in one day sums it up. We could cope with that to play in front of a home crowd, but there was no crowd — maybe 50 people. Even for the game against Scotland — which was our first at home in four years — there was not even 100 people there. Maybe people don’t like the longer version of the game. I’m sure the crowd would have been bigger if it was 20-20. But the bottom line is people just don’t support the national programme. People don’t support their country. I feel I also have to comment on the negative press. We’ve received a lot of stick over the years but the ultimate was Saturday. The words this guy (The Royal Gazette’s Josh Ball) used to describe the team were over the top and flat-out disrespectful. I can tell you the players would have liked to have got him out on that wicket for ten overs and had use him as a dart board and see what comments he made after that. Seriously, you expect bad press in sports, particularly when results aren’t going your way. But for me that was way overboard. We’re still people. I don’t think you would see any other team in the world getting that kind of stick from their home press. The upside of this is that it really reminds me of where we were four years ago. The same press was trashing us, we were surrounded by the same negativity but we came through and we qualified for the World Cup. We have to respond to all this in the right way. We’re going to stick together and we’re going to fight and we’re going to prove people wrong.

Time to change Cup Match format?

By James Whittaker
An entertaining Cup Match ended in a thoroughly predictable anti-climax, prompting widespread calls for a change in the format of the annual Classic.
Those who defend the current form of the game cite tradition as their primary exhibit for the defence.
It's a defence of sorts, but it's a weak one.
Nobody's suggesting making it a 20-20 game, but adding a third day or turning it into a three-match one-day series, would make for a much more entertaining spectacle.
Nowhere else in the world, do you see a two-inning match squeezed into two days.
People look forward to this game for months, they sit in the sun for hours and they deserve better than the limp display of poking and prodding that brought this game to it's conclusion.
Where Somerset to blame for not taking those extra 12 overs?
Where St George's to blame for deliberately blocking for the draw?
Or should we blame the 'tradition' that dictates to the Champions that a draw is as good as a win?
Either way a change in the format, would bring about a change for the better. And if it means an extra day's holiday, who's going to complain?

Clay's last hurrah

By James Whittaker
Will Clay Smith bow out in style as he predicted in today's Bermuda Sun?
Or will the living legend suffer the 'cruel' fate predicted for him by Royal Gazette letter writer and Somerset fan George 'Recman' Holdipp and bow out with a 'golden pair'.
Clay admits he is still suffering with his knee, he has hardly played this year and he is carrying a bit more timber than he was at his peak.
But St. George's skipper Lionel Cann reckons, 'a 30 per cent fit Clay Smith would be better than anything Somerset's got'.
And Smith himself said: "When it comes to Cup Match Clay Smith will step up to the plate and produce the goods."
Only the weekend will tell, but Clay's a great guy and a truly talented cricketer and it would be nice to see him go out with another century.

Who has the stronger Cup Match squad?

By James Whittaker
These are the Cup Match squads for 2008:

Somerset: Jacobi Robinson, Hasan Durham, Janeiro Tucker, Ricardo Brangman, Sammy Robinson, Malachi Jones, Jordan De Silva, Azeem Pitcher, Dion Stovell, Del Hollis, Chris Douglas
St George's: Lionel Cann, Charlie Marshall, Clay Smith, Glenn Blakeney, Fiqre Crockwell, Arthur Pitcher, Jason Anderson, Delyone Bordern, Greg Foggo, Ryan Steede, Tre Govia

Not too many shocks but a few interesting selections. St George's pulled the biggest surprise by including 15-year-old leg-spinner Tre Govia — opting for youth and promise over the experience and proven track record of David 'chick' Adams. The decision looks pretty baffling when you look at their relative stats for the season and their performances in the final trial game on Saturday (Govia 1 for 100, Adams 2 for 50). But St George's have picked a very experienced team and probably figured they needed some young blood in their line-up.
The batting in the east still looks strong — even without OJ Pitcher and Chris Foggo. The return of Glenn Blakeney and the form of Charlie Marshall mean they have a very strong middle order. It's their bowling department that has suffered the most.
In the absence of George O'Brien, Stefan Kelly and Rodney Trott there is an awful lot of pressure on St George's senior bowlers Greg Foggo, Ryan Steede and Delyone Borden.
When you look at the explosive batting in Somerset's line-up — Janeiro Tucker, Dion Stovell, Chris Douglas — they have a lot of work to do.
Writing in the Bermuda Sun last week St George's skipper Lionel Cann said he thought that if Somerset didn't win this year, they wouldn't win it for a decade.
That might have been a bit optimistic in terms of the long-term analysis but he was spot-on about one thing.
This is a big chance for Somerset to win back the cup.
The groundstaff have promised a result pitch but I still think the biggest question for Somerset is whether, in the absence of Kevin Hurdle, they have the firepower to take 20 wickets in two days.
It's going to be a close run thing, but looking at the two sides my money would be on the challengers this time.

Cup Match on the sofa

By Don Burgess

If the clubs want fans to go to Somerset for Cup Match this year they may have misjudged things by deciding to screen the full game live on TV.
I, for one, am not going up to the west end in the middle of a baking heat filled day when I can sit on my sofa in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt, enjoying the comforts of air conditioning, cold soda and cheap snacks. Sure I'll miss the Crown and Anchor, the colourful fashions and the big-game atmosphere, but at least I won't have to drive to the west end and swelter in the heat.
But then again, maybe I'm just lazy.