Losing to the likes of Zimbabwe and Jamaica this year was to be expected, but Bermuda become champions of the Americas if they are to prove they?ve made significant progress since World Cup qualification was secured.

That was the candid assessment of national team skipper Irving Romaine yesterday before boarding a plane to Toronto, where Bermuda will play a four-day Intercontinental Cup match against the hosts before resuming regional rivalries against the USA, the Cayman Islands and Argentina in the Americas Championship from August 22-29.

From the very beginning of Bermuda?s new cricketing adventure, Romaine said, the primary goal has not been to upset well-drilled professional teams but to become consistently the best side the region and, in the not too distant future, the best Associate nation in world cricket, ahead of the likes of Scotland and Ireland.

While the heavy Stanford 20-20 defeat at the hands of Jamaica was a painful, televised humiliation, the hysterical nature of the public outcry surprised the players ? who Romaine said are their own harshest critics.

?I realise that because of all the money we?ve had thrown at us, people are expecting results and tend to get upset when we lose like we did in Antigua,? he said.

?But I think there needs to be a little bit of perspective. One day we are playing against the likes of Canada and the US and the next we?re up against teams like Jamaica, Kenya and Zimbabwe and it?s not realistic to expect us to be beating these guys at this stage.

?When we first sat down as a group to discuss what we wanted to achieve after qualifying for the World Cup, we decided that to become the best side in the Americas was, to start with, something we could realistically achieve.

?That?s what makes this tour so important for us and we go there hoping and expecting to beat Canada in the four-day game and also to win the Americas Championship.

?We?re confident because we?ve beaten all these sides before, but at the same time we know how quickly things can go wrong if we do not play to our potential.

?Canada are always a good side at home and they?ve got all their best players available and it looks as if the US have taken on a few new imports as well so they could be a real handful as well.?

The jovial Bailey?s Bay allrounder will be moving into new territory tomorrow when he leads the side out to play in their first ever four-day first class match.

While he has plenty of experience skippering the side in limited overs cricket, where field placements and tactics tend to be rather formulaic, the art of captaincy in the longer form of the game is far more subtle and complex.

And though he is looking forward to the challenge, Romaine admitted he will also be drawing heavily on the experience of the returning Smith who has led the side in the Intercontinental Cup before.

?Four day cricket is new to all of us and it will require me to adjust my thinking a huge amount,? he said.

?I?ve been talking about it with Gus and thinking a lot about it in the last few weeks, but obviously Clay is a fantastic resource to have and he will undoubtedly be my right-hand man along with the vice-captain Dean Minors.

?The key I think will be to take it session by session and to realise ahead of time where the game might be going and whether we should be on the attack or when we should be sitting back. It?ll certainly be interesting and I?m sure my head will be aching at the end of it, but I love new challenges and I hope to be able to meet it.?

Meanwhile, Romaine was keen to express his excitement at having 16-year-old Malachi Jones in the squad for the very first time after a series of impressive performances with both bat and ball in the Bermuda Under 19s.

?He has certainly improved a huge amount since last season,? the skipper said.

?He?s grown a lot and has become a lot stronger and has been bowling with quite a bit of pace for his age so far this season. He?s a very confident guy who has fitted in very well at training and doesn?t seem to be that fazed by the step-up from the Under 19s, so it will be good to have him with us.?

On the subject of wives being allowed on tour for the first time by the Bermuda Cricket Board ? who are covering the cost of the flights for all ?common law? wives wishing to travel ? Romaine was upbeat.

?We have a few days off between the end of the four-day game and the Americas Championship and it will be good for the guys to be able to go off with their wives and completely switch off from cricket, relax and then come back ready to play. It?s a long and important tour, so having some of the wives there for part of the time will be good for everybody concerned.?