I cannot believe Eastern Counties is here again so fast. It seems like just yesterday that we (Cleveland) were ending a 33-year wait to win the trophy, but now the task of holding on to the cup is a major challenge.

Such is the task that I have been having sleepless nights trying to plan and make sure the game plan for Bailey’s Bay is spot on. This is a massive challenge for my Cleveland team, but we are ready, as we know Bailey’s Bay are coming and they are coming hard.

Tomorrow’s game will be like no other for Cleveland because it is our first defence of the trophy. Unfortunately, this week the weather has been terrible, hence the team’s preparations have been hindered somewhat.

On Tuesday I saw a commitment from a bunch of guys who are hungry for more success. After a day of pouring rain, I got the training ground and to my surprise I found a full squad of players ready to train.

We somehow managed to get in 45 minutes of fitness and fielding drills before the rain came again. Initially, it was raining slightly and I kept them training in the drizzle because I wanted to test their mentality. No one complained and the players just kept going about their work.

One player actually shouted out, “Let’s keep going.” As a coach, all I could do was smile because it let me know they are mentally where I want them to be.

Hopefully, Saturday comes and it’s a beautiful day so that the cricket fans can be treated to another exciting and entertaining game. Bailey’s Bay have a team who on their day can beat any team in Bermuda, but that same team can also be easily exposed, as they rely on certain people to make the bulk of their runs.

As stated before, this is probably the most talented and strongest Cleveland team ever on paper and the players showed in the last county match that they have the heart to go along with the talent.

Do you, as cricket fans, ever wonder what goes into preparing for such a game of this magnitude?

Once we beat St David’s, the planning for this game started immediately. The first thing we do as a team is highlight the Bailey’s Bay strengths and weaknesses. Secondly, we would evaluate every Bailey’s Bay batsmen and come up with a plan A and a plan B on how we want to attack them and get them out.

If that fails, we rely on plan C, which is the old reliable plan, but I’ll keep it a secret for now.

With respect to their bowling attack, we pick out the potential threats and discuss how we want to bat against them and what to expect from them. In these meeting, we try to leave no stone unturned.

For the previous county match, we sat down as a team three weeks before the game to go over every St David’s player and how we want to bowl to them. Then, a week before the game, we went over it again just in case we missed something.

To my players’ credit, they executed the game plan perfectly. Planning such as this is important so that the captain, along with the rest of the players, are all thinking on the same page.

What comes next is the training. In a game of this magnitude, extra fitness is required in case we have to field first. Most Bermuda players lack fitness, hence if they have to field first and are out in the hot sun for 60 overs they become vulnerable when they bat.

One thing I enjoy doing with my team is getting them totally exhausted and then giving them a thinking drill. Most times the drills are easy, but because the mind and body are fatigued, players tend to lose focus. Hence the purpose of the drill is to help the players to concentrate when they are tired.

Also, when training for a big game such as this, a lot of fielding practice comes into play. The one thing you do not want to be doing is to be giving batsmen a second chance or an opportunity to score runs because someone drops a catch.

As we know, catches win matches.

Normally, we would do lots of batting, but because of the rain we have been slightly hindered. However, some players have taken it upon themselves to arrive at training an hour ahead of time to do some extra batting with a team-mate.

One thing I have had to emphasise a lot in training is being disciplined as a batsman. When we were trying to win the cup, we could be flashy and aggressive, but now what I am looking for is controlled aggression from my batsmen.

Once the team is picked, I like to let my players know immediately where they will be batting so they can begin to focus on their task.

One other important discussion that takes place is regarding the toss. Whether or not we should bat first or bowl if we win the toss. Obviously, certain things have to be taken into consideration on the day, but it is important that your team do not put too much emphasis on the toss because it is not guaranteed that you will win it.

What makes this Eastern Counties very challenging for us is that we have not had a game for three weeks. Our game on Sunday was rained out, thus leaving us short of match practice. No, it’s not the ideal build-up for such an important game, but it is pretty much the same for both teams. Hopefully we can quickly work out the kinks and put on a strong performance for all of Bermuda to witness.

Looking at the Bailey’s Bay team, I see they have a good mixture of youth and experience. One noticeable player is Tre Manders, who I see opted not to travel to the West Indies for the under-19 tournament. I don’t know if he missed the tournament just to play in the Eastern Counties, but I surely hope that wasn’t the case.

As a promising young cricketer, he needs to be looking at cricket beyond Bermuda if he has aspirations of playing at the highest level. Tre is a special talent and Bay should be encouraging him to go to the next level and not to make playing local cricket a priority.

Having said all that, weather permitting, Saturday on paper looks to be a tight encounter.

Will the game live up to the expectations? You have to be there to see it.

If you missed the first Eastern Counties game, you do not want to miss this one because it could be just as exciting, if not even better.

Quote of the week: “If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!” — Charles Barkley