Consistency's the name of the game, and it's one Bermuda cricketers don't appear to be playing very well.

Following Saturday's 55-run thrashing of Uganda, the national team came back down to earth with a bang on Monday, crushed by ten wickets in their World One-Day League opener by hosts Kenya.

It was a defeat which will have provided plenty of food for thought as the players returned for net practice at the Gymkhana ground yesterday morning, trying to figure out what went wrong.

Whatever it was, they have precious little time to put it right.

Today they take on an accomplished Irish side who consider themselves among the favourites for victory in this tournament, aware that another defeat would almost certainly scupper any hopes of appearing in next week's final.

And Ireland will be more determined than ever, having lost their opening match against Scotland yesterday in a last-ball thriller (see separate story).

When these same teams last met, in the opening match of the ICC Trophy at Stormont in Belfast in June, 2005, Ireland overwhelmed their opponents by 97 runs.

Set a daunting target of 315, Bermuda could only make 218 for six in their 50 overs, Janeiro Tucker top-scoring with an unbeaten 55.

Four years earlier in the same event in Canada, Ireland won by a convincing eight wickets.

History and current form would perhaps suggest that Gus Logie's men will enter today's clash as rank underdogs.

But there's also another piece of history which might inspire skipper Irving Romaine and his team.

Following the defeat by Ireland in 2005, Bermuda embarked on a winning streak which saw them upset the UAE and beat both Denmark and USA en route to qualifying for the World Cup.

If they can bounce back in similar fashion in this week's matches, having taken a lesson from Kenya, they could again confound the critics.

The harsh reality, however, is that Bermuda, even when winning, rarely demonstrate the type of all-round effort required to find any level of consistency.

Even in the win against Uganda, too many of their bats surrendered wickets without much of a fight — rescued by a swashbuckling 71 from Lionel Cann — and the bowlers offered their opponents a helping hand with an astonishing 27 wides.

Against Kenya, opener Dean Minors' half-century was the only high point, with Logie admitting afterwards it was difficult to see where the next win would come from if players refused to learn from their mistakes.

As of last night, Logie hadn't named his eleven for today's game, again at the Jaffrey's Sports Ground on the outskirts of the city — where locals say winning the toss can have a major bearing on the outcome.

Almost without fail, one club member explained, the pitch offers problems for the batsmen during the first hour before becoming much easier to play later in the day.

That assessment was borne out in Monday's match in which Bermuda lost a glut of early wickets having been put into bat while during the afternoon Kenya's openers rattled off the required runs virtually untroubled. Although it hardly accounted for the huge margin of defeat.

If Logie is to change his line-up for today's match, he might be tempted to bring in either Stefan Kelly or Arthur Pitcher for Kevin Hurdle who, while smashing three sixes in a valuable tail-end knock of 23 against Kenya, was expensively wayward with the new ball, conceding 55 runs off five overs.

Delyone Borden is another whose place might be in jeopardy. He's suffered successive ducks on tour — although his last was as a result of an unfortunate run-out — and while having bowled tidily it may be felt the team have sufficient spin power in Dwayne Leverock and Romaine, who picked up two wickets against the Ugandans.

The places of opener Clay Smith and middle order bats David Hemp and Janeiro Tucker should be secure, but all three will be aware they need to perform if Bermuda are to pull off the required upset.

Ireland, despite yesterday's setback, are unlikely to be anything but supremely confident.

Fresh from a lengthy training camp in Port Elizabeth, South Africa — their first such venture outside of Ireland — the team's captain, Trent Johnston, told a press conference he and his players believed they were performing better than ever.

That confidence was initially reinforced in their opening match yesterday when they cracked 280 for seven against Scotland and had their opponents on the ropes before an amazing fightback saw the Scots steal victory off the very last ball.

In other games today, Canada meet Scotland at the Ruaraka ground and Kenya play the Netherlands at Gymkhana.