LOGIE

HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC):

Bermuda's cricketers will get one final chance to stake a claim to be included in the island's Cricket World Cup-bound team when they take part in next week's World Cricket League (WCL) Division One Championships in Kenya.

The Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) will announce a final squad of 15 after the matches in Nairobi, and those players will then take part in a triangular tournament in Antigua, also involving Bangladesh and Canada, two of the other countries heading to CWC 2007 in the Caribbean.

It has been announced that the start of the WCL in Nairobi has been brought forward by 24 hours after authorities at the Jaffrey Sports Club said matches could not be staged on January 30, the scheduled date, as it fell on the Islamic holiday commemorating the Day of Ashura.

As a result, the Kenya versus Bermuda game will be played on January 29.

Although back-to-back losses on a recent rain-affected training camp in Trinidad might not have given the island's leading players the kind of momentum they had hoped for heading into the Kenya tournament, skipper Irving Romaine remains confident his team will meet the challenges ahead.

"Basically, this is a time for us to judge ourselves against the other associate members that have qualified to see exactly where we stand," he told the Royal Gazette.

"Our goals were to win the Americas championship and then strive to be the best among the associate members," Romaine said.

After qualifying for the World Cup and clinching the ICC Intercontinental Cup Americas Group in the summer of 2005, Romaine captained Bermuda to their maiden Americas Champion-ship crown in Ontario last August.

Positive Results

Although Bermuda's record on the international stage has been chequered, Romaine is convinced that lessons are being learned and that eventually positive results will come more often.

"It's all up to us because we have the talent and can match our opponents talent-wise," Romaine said. "It's just that they are more disciplined than we are at the moment.

"But if we can get control of our discipline and play to our full ability then we should win because we do go into games definitely looking to win."

Late last year, national coach Gus Logie urged his team to toughen up mentally. Now Romaine is also urging his troops to acquire the 'killer instinct' to put teams away - something that has noticeably been missing on recent tours.

"We have to learn the killer instinct as a team. Some players have it, and some don't," Romaine said.

"We have to become bitterly ruthless. And we are definitely making the transition and things are beginning to sink in."

Bermuda will meet Uganda in a warm-up match on Sunday.