After our humiliating defeat to Canada at the Under-19s tournament in Florida this week, in which we were bowled all out for 87, I received an e-mail that said: “If these are Bermuda's future we are in some serious trouble”.I beg to differ, but if we do not coach and train their minds properly to understand the game of cricket then yes that statement may turn out to be true.First of all, one thing we have to realise is that our team is probably the youngest team in the tournament. This is really our Under-17s playing in the Under-19 age group.Why is that? Simply put there is a cricket generation that we have lost, a gap that has been difficult to fill. Bermuda simply does not have a pool of quality cricketers between the ages of 18 and 20. The silver lining is that this current team will be around for at least two more years in this age group, giving them the experience needed to make it to the next level, and ultimately dominate this age group internationally.Secondly, in this Under-19 team, there are a few outstanding top quality players. Already five of them have made their senior debut, which assures us that there are some young talented cricketers coming along.The future can be bright and hopeful for Bermuda cricket but there are factors that can hinder us from being the best that we can be.Looking at this current team of players, as gifted as they are, there are two major deficiencies. They are consistency and game knowledge or awareness. Until the players can improve and master these attributes, they will continue to struggle at the international level.Consistency is something even our senior players have struggled with on the international level. The fluctuating of playing great in one game and poor in the next has to change.At the international level a player should be looking to perform well on average, two out of every three games. That is the definition of consistency. As players they have to scrutinise their own game. Identify what works for them and what doesn't work for them.Example at the beginning of my international career I used to always get out hooking in the early part of my innings. Maybe I didn't have my eyes in yet or didn't have the pace or bounce of the ball down? Regardless it was a problem and so I had to eliminate that stroke in the early part of my innings.Once I had scored around 20 or 30 runs I was able to play that shot with more confidence, seldom getting out from a bad hook shot. This one change helped improve my game and I started scoring runs on a more consistent basis. Advice study yourselves and work hard on the training ground to counteract your mistakes and weaknesses.Many other things can hinder consistency. Two that come to mind immediately are poor techniques and over confidence.The best players in the world are technically sound. They have studied their craft whether they are a batsman or a bowler and they train to perfect it. Top players bat anywhere from two to four hours a day in the nets, sometimes being video taped so they can dissect their game and improve it. Over confidence is a funny factor that hinders consistency. Strange I must say, when a player is over confident that often leads to their own downfall as they feel they are invincible, that nobody can stop them causing them to premeditate their game instead of using wisdom ball by ball, bringing us right to my second major fault, game knowledge and awareness.When I look at the Under-19 team one thing that stands out is their inability to bat the full 50 overs. In the first game they scored 187 but were bowled out in 29.4 overs playing a 41-over game. This means they did not bat out 11 overs. When you do the math that is 66 balls. Can you imagine how many more runs they could have scored had they batted all the overs out? Not batting your overs out is a cardinal sin in the limited overs game.When playing limited overs cricket, players have to always be calculating, counting balls, knowing what the run rate is etc . . . Teams obviously have different strategies but for the most part all teams appoint one player in the team to bat as long as possible. If that player gets out someone else has to look to take up that specific role. Too many of our batsmen get out trying to hit the ball when there is actually so much time left in the game that slugging is unnecessary.For the remainder of this tournament the number one goal for our Under 19s should be to try and bat all their overs out. Players need to understand what their roles are during a game but they must also be flexible and understand that their roles may change during the course of a game.Example, last year at St.George's James Celestine who is a very aggressive batsman came in to bat and the team were 140 for two, so he was able to go in and blast 50 runs in 20 balls.The next game we were 40 for two so what did he do? He had to adjust his game and try to bat long. James scored 44 I believe and I told him it was the best innings I had ever seen him play because he proved to me that he understood the game of cricket and did what was best for his team.Make it a point to understand the circumstances of a game and be able to adjust based on the situation. Forget about the spectators wanting to see all boundaries, sixes in particular in open cricket or a 50-overs match. Hence the reason why I strongly believe that 20/20 cricket is having a negative effect on our game of cricket. Players are trying to beat the ball and entertain the crowds and can't adjust when it comes to the longer version of the game they still have the 20/20 mentality.To improve the Under-19s age group I would like to see the Bermuda Cricket Board play Under-19s open league cricket on Saturdays.Open cricket would help bring a sense of calmness to our players who for the most part are aggressive minded, help them think more and enhance their overall game.To spice it up, each club could have three over aged players involved. Let's face it the Open league we used to have didn't serve its purpose, but this league could be directed towards improving our younger players.Just a reminder, one game doesn't make you a bad team. Under-19s stay focused and continue doing the basics well. Your destiny is still in our hands.Next week look out for my predictions for Cricket World Cup, which is due to start on February 19.