BCB webinar: Road to the 2007 World Cup
The Bermuda Cricket Board is using the delay to the start of the season, as well as the popularity of social media, to highlight one of the biggest accomplishments of a national team — qualification for and participation in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
The team achieved the feat when they qualified two years earlier at the ICC Trophy in Ireland under coach Gus Logie. Tomorrow, the BCB will host a webinar titled From the Grassroots to the World Stage, starting at 4pm when the Bermuda teams of 2005 and 2007 will be remembered.
Radio personality Wendell Smith, a former St George’s Cup Match and Bermuda captain, who was Logie’s assistant in Ireland, will be the moderator.
The plan is to involve members of the two teams in the webinar, including Saleem Mukuddem, who left Bermuda soon after to return to South Africa, and Dennis Archer, who is now back living in Barbados.
Both have agreed to participate, along with Clay Smith, who captained the team in Ireland before suffering a hamstring injury in the first match, and vice captain Janeiro Tucker, who led the team to qualification in the win over the United States, as Smith watched emotionally from the sidelines.
“A lot of us have wanted this all of our lives,” Smith told former Royal Gazette Sports Editor Adrian Robson, who was in Ireland with the team.
“All our lives we’ve worked for this one moment, and it’s just too emotional, unbelievable, totally unbelievable.
“When you think of what we’ve achieved, you think of all the past cricketers that also worked so hard to get to this point and were unsuccessful.
“This is for them. This is their day as well; they laid the platform and we’re all very appreciative.”
Also in that 2007 team was Irving Romaine, who was the World Cup captain two years later, Lionel Cann, Dwayne Leverock, Dean Minors, Wendell White, Albert Steede, Chris Foggo and Ryan Steede. Delyone Borden and OJ Pitcher were the youngest members of the team.
“It’s something to inspire the youth to come and hear of the journey of the cricketers who participated in the qualifiers in 2005 and the 2007 [World Cup] team,” said Kellie Smith, the BCB vice-president and development chairwoman.
“They will share their stories of their journeys in cricket from the grass roots to the world stage. Quite a few of the players will be there, as well as Logie and Herbie Bascome, who was the assistant coach in 2007.
The webinar is aimed specifically at youth players who may be too young to remember Bermuda’s ascension to the world stage.
“All of the players have been contacted to be a part and Wendell will have questions and let them share their stories,” Smith added.
A webinar part two is in the works, involving Rodney Trott, who captain the team that competed in the Under-19 World Cup in 2008 in Malaysia.
“We just want the youth to know that it is possible and that we can get back there one day,” the vice-president said.
“We also have photos that we will show, just to get the young players thinking ’this could be me one day’.”
Smith added: “Because we won’t have any cricket right now, this is something to kick-start the season. We want to keep the youngsters engaged instead of not having anything. Normally our season has already started.”
• The webinar can be accessed on Facebook livestream @BermudaCricketBoard
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