World Cup cricket will be here next weekend, which might cause many of us to reflect on 2005 when Bermuda qualified for the competition for the first time.

It has been nearly a decade since Bermuda shocked the world of cricket by becoming the smallest nation to qualify for the World Cup. On July 7, 2005 Bermuda defeated the United States to qualify for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

It is a moment in history that many Bermudian cricket followers will never forget. Most of us thought that we would never live to see that day, but we did.

I’d like to take you back to the last wicket, the joyous celebrations on the field and the changing room. The ball was hit some distance away from Albert Steede and he miraculously dove to take a blinder of a catch, one that even Jonty Rhodes would have been proud of. That culminated in Bermuda winning by 113 runs. Thus the celebrations on the field began.

As coach Gus Logie and I rose from the bench to join in, tears were flowing from everywhere. Grown men were not just crying, but bawling their eyes out in jubilation. “Mission Impossible” had been completed. The celebrations carried on in the changing room and the emotions that were displayed by every member of the team were unforgettable.

It is often said that the journey is sweeter than the destination. In this regard, I will share with you one or two special moments, which really showed how inspired we were as a team to qualify and how it was faith that saw us through. On our way to Ireland, we stopped over in England to play some warm-up matches.

Just before leaving England, Logie sat the team down and asked every player to explain just how much qualifying would mean to them.

As each player spoke, you could feel the seriousness and the passion from the words they shared. Up steps Lionel Cann and, before he could say two or three words, he started crying profusely.

Every time he attempted to talk, he would choke on his words, as if he was a little boy who had just received licks from his parents. The entire team broke out in an outrageous laughter, as he stuttered through his speech, but in the end it was inspiring to us all.

The second memorable thing occurred when we played the US. As we got to the grounds, we quickly took a look at the wicket.

Logie brought us together and said, “Guys if we win the toss, we are going to bat. I woke up at 3.11am and the Lord told me to look at the clock — and that is how many runs Bermuda was going to score.”

Call it a miracle; call it faith, but Bermuda scored 311 runs that day against the US and the rest is history.

Now some ten years later, the same team is preparing to meet for a reunion dinner and hopefully, later in the summer we will be able to mark our ten-year anniversary with a match for all of Bermuda to see.

The playing conditions these days are slightly different to those of 2005. Back then, when Bermuda qualified, if you scored 250 runs you felt you were in with a chance of victory. With the quality of wickets nowadays, and the rule changes, teams are looking to post 300 minimum.

Even then they are not secure, as we have seen recently with teams scoring more than 350 comfortably.

This World Cup should be action-packed from the start. Hopefully, it will inspire our cricketers, both young and old, to elevate their game to a new level during this domestic season. Who knows what the future can hold for Bermuda. We did it once, why can’t it happen again?

Quote of the week: “You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” — Michael Phelps