Bermuda go into today?s Tri-Series final against Zimbabwe with a mountain to climb as they seek to make amends for their 194-run humiliation on Thursday at the Queen?s Park Oval.

Though the decision to rest three of their leading players in the final round-robin match ? the outcome of which had no bearing on the make-up of the final ? clearly played a part in the defeat, it will take the very best performances from all eleven players if Bermuda are to pull off what would be a quite spectacular reversal in fortunes.

Dwayne Leverock, Lionel Cann and George O?Brien jr ? the latter now seemingly indispensable following a hugely promising international debut against Canada ? will all return to the fold, meaning Ryan Steede, Kevin Hurdle, Azeem Pitcher, Treadwell Gibbons jr and Daniel Morgan must consider their places in the side to be under threat.

Speaking ahead of the final selection meeting yesterday, coach Gus Logie insisted that Cann would be on the field today despite going into the match injured and therefore unable to call on the services of a runner should his torn groin prove too painful.

Even against a side that Bermuda are not expected to beat, Logie was enormously disappointed with the performance on Thursday, with the bowlers in particular letting themselves down.

Another alarming shortcoming is that three members of the top order ? Morgan, Pitcher and Kwame Tucker ? have not yet reached double figures on tour and Logie admitted that there might have to personnel changes if the runs crisis is not resolved quickly.

The problem here is that there is a distinct shortage of viable alternatives.

Other than showing faith in the individuals who have so far failed to deliver, the only other possibility would be to ask Dean Minors to open the batting ? which would then upset the balance of a middle order that has been the side?s saving grace for so long now.

But with the selectors facing some particularly difficult decisions last night, the coach was in no mood for excuses.

?It was one-way traffic against Zimbabwe, that?s for sure,? said Logie, who has already expressed his frustration at his side?s inability to maintain consistency, particularly in matches where the outcome is not deemed the be all and end all.

?We were looking to give an opportunity to guys like Ryan Steede and Kevin Hurdle to go out there and show what they could do, but things did not turn out as we would have liked.

?Once they had got passed 300, we knew that winning the game would be out of our grasp so we concentrated on trying to bat the 50 overs and post a score over 200.

?But yet again we lost early wickets and other than good knocks from Irving Romaine and Treadwell Gibbons, nobody else took the initiative.

?A lack of runs at the top of the order has been a consistent problem and it is something we will be looking at very closely.

?Bringing back the three players who were rested for that game will hopefully make us a little more competitive and I am sure that the players will lift their games for the final as they seem to play their best cricket when they absolutely have to.

?I certainly expect a lot more of them. We all know that they are trying and giving their best, but they can play much better than they did on Thursday and I am sure there will be some added intensity and concentration in the final.?

Given that Bermuda won the toss in their match against the southern Africans and were ultimately batted out of the game, there is a strong argument for batting first today and trying to set a competitive total on what is expected to be a slightly slower track at the Oval ? the one used for the final One Day International of Zimbabwe?s seven-match series against the West Indies.

Predictably, Logie would not be drawn on such details last night, preferring to wait until after a thorough assessment of the conditions this morning.

But given that the weather forecast is again predicting boiling temperatures and relatively clear skies, it would be no great surprise if Janeiro Tucker asked the Zimbabweans to bowl first should he win the toss.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe coach Kevin Curran said he expected a much stronger showing from the opposition today, though he warned they had every intention of taking the attack to Bermuda once again.

?It was good to finally get a couple of decent wins under our belts this week because we were starting to forget what it felt like,? he said.

?Bermuda were not at their best against us ? they certainly bowled a lot better against Canada the day before ? and we know they have a few of their best players coming back for the final.

?But equally we gave our best seamer Tawanda Mupariwa the day off, so it will be interesting to see how the Bermuda batsmen cope with him because he gave the Canadians a few problems when we beat them.

?From our perspective, nothing other than a win will be acceptable and if we carry on in the way we have played so far this week, I?m fairly confident that we won?t have any problems.

?It?s very easy though when you?ve just thrashed a side to come back in the next match and just expect it to happen again ? even the Australians were in trouble in a Test match against Bangladesh recently when they went into the game under-prepared and complacent.

?Given all the flak we?ve been copping in the last few months and with all the problems at home, that is something we just cannot afford to do.?