Bermuda can now make claim to having a genuine ?fast? bowler among their ranks.

Saleem Mukuddem is going into tomorrow?s semi-final with Kenya in the knowledge that neither food nor water can pass his lips during daylight hours ? a tough ask indeed in an African summer where temperatures are heading well into the mid-30s.

The strike bowler is currently observing the Muslim month-long fast of Ramadan but having to combine it with cricket ? and international cricket at that ? for the first time in his life.

His personal sacrifice, and the potential debilitating effects on performance, has been explained to coach Gus Logie yet Mukuddem has been given a vote of confidence and looks set to be passed to play.

?I had to think long and hard about it, for myself and for the team,? said Mukuddem, who is unable to eat or drink from one hour before sunrise to sunset.

?It is a major commitment but religion is very important to me. Cricket is my passion, and anyone who knows me will tell you that.

?But religion is not like going to the supermarket where you take what you want and leave the rest on the shelves. Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam and what is the point in ignoring this one and just doing the other four.

?I have thought very hard about it and whether I can perform at full strength but I have spoken with the coach and explained it to him and I can take comfort from the fact that he is backing me.

?I could eat, drink and be merry and then get two ducks and be smacked all over the field, who knows if this is going to make any difference.?

Once Mukuddem made the commitment to play, he made another, equally important, commitment ? to get so fit that his enforced fast will have the smallest possible effect on performance.

?I have always been one to keep myself fit but I have really stepped it up in the run-up to this tournament,? said the player, who has been getting up as early as 5 a.m. to hydrate for the day.

?The fitter I am, the less the effects will be on me, however hot it gets. It is not so much the food, it is the drink that is the hard part.

?But I can rinse my mouth out as long as I don?t swallow and can wash my face and the back of my neck.

?I think I will be able to cope with it. I have spoken to the coach and he seems happy.

?Of course there are going to be limitations on my performance. I am expecting to be bowling in shorter spells but I am going to make sure they count.

?Every wasted ball is much-needed energy wasted, you will probably see me bowling my best line and length because I can?t afford not to.?

Asked if he was selfish to play in a match in which he could potentially have nothing left by 6.30 p.m. on the final day, his reply was straightforward.

?I train hard and play hard,? he said, not at all offended by the question which was also put to Clay Smith before he travelled to the ICC Trophy in Ireland with a supposed damaged knee.

?I don?t think people can question my commitment to the team. I have thought long and hard and even taken advice from clerics back in South Africa.

?Other sportsmen do this, Kolo Toure at Arsenal for one, and I think I am in a position to do it. I have made sure I am fit enough and I have told my team-mates and the coach what I am doing.

?If they are happy, I am happy and they?re happy as far as I know. I will do everything I can for this team. I am going to do everything humanly possible and they know that and there is nothing more they can ask of me.?

United Arab Emirates, who play Ireland in the other semi-final, also have a number of players and officials who face the same concerns.

But Logie, typically, was very low-key on the subject.

?If he is happy, I am happy,? he said with a dismissive shrug of the shoulders.

?We will have a look at how we use him but he is a fit player and he knows himself and what he can do.

?I have no problems.?

If Bermuda do claim a victory on Tuesday, poor Mukuddem will have to wait until 7 p.m. for his celebratory tipple, but as a non-drinker, he wouldn?t mind if his team-mates had already finished the champagne by then.