ON a cool, blustery morning early last July at the Maple Leaf cricket ground just north of Toronto, the sound of falling timber was reverberating around the ground with alarming regularity.

Having won their opening two matches and seemingly headed for the second phase of the ICC Trophy Tournament, Bermuda's cricketers suddenly found themselves being outsmarted by a couple of raw but pacy Irish bowlers.

Between them Paul Mooney and Adrian McCoubrey were knocking down the stumps quicker than either umpire could replace them, slicing through Bermuda's top order like melted butter.

From an ominous 13 for two, the Island team crashed to 23 for four and soon after 34 for six.

Finally, with the scoreboard reading a calamitous 44 for seven, Bermuda's most ardent and arguably most passionate cricket fan, George Holdipp (aka Recman), could take no more.

From his vantage point on the boundary he screamed at the top of his voice: "This isn't Australia for God's sake! It's Ireland!"

His point being, of course, that Bermuda might be excused for succumbing to the might of world champions, but to be humiliated by a bunch of paddies, most of whose compatriots would likely never have seen a cricket match, simply wasn't on.

George's frustration brought a chuckle from the small gathering of Irish supporters and even a wry smile from the lanky Mooney as he picked off his fourth wicket of the day.

Ireland, as might have been expected after such a glorious start, ran out comfortable winners by eight wickets, Mooney and McCoubrey claiming seven Bermuda scalps between them.

That match still ranks among the most forgettable in Bermuda's international cricketing history.

But somehow it pales in comparison with what transpired at the Hurlingham ground in Buenos Aires on Tuesday of this week.

Put into bat, the Bermuda team were skittled out for a paltry 59, believed to be the lowest total ever by an Island team in a one-day international.

And no, the perpetrators of this demolition didn't hail from Australia either. Nor were they Irish.

They represented the Cayman Islands, the only cricket-playing nation with a smaller pool of players than Bermuda from which to select their squad.

Goodness knows what George would have made of it all.

After Bermuda had slumped to a four-wicket defeat, national coach Mark Harper suggested that dropped catches had cost his side the game. After all, Caymans, he pointed out, had lost six wickets themselves in chasing the meagre total.

Good try Mark, but no matter how many catches we dropped, there's no getting away from the fact that Bermuda cricket had plummeted new depths.

Dropped catches, artificial wicket, damp outfield, inexperienced team . . . any number of excuses couldn't hide the embarrassment inflicted upon our national sport.

While we knew the makeshift squad selected for this Americas Cup tournament was always going to struggle, few would have envisioned defeat at the hands of the Cayman Islands.

If the players were feeling any shame, hopefully they were joined by those in the original squad who remained at home. For it's they who should shoulder much if not most of the blame.

Bermuda's defeat reflected directly on the absentees who after offering an assortment of excuses decided they neither wanted to train or travel with the team. The side Harper eventually assembled, peppered with youngsters, quite clearly wasn't up to the task.

Their deficiencies were again evident in an eight-wicket thrashing by tournament favourites Canada yesterday.

And really not much consolation can be taken from their 68-run victory over the Bahamas on Wednesday, the opposition on that day weaker, if that's possible, than even the Caymans.

Some might argue that Bermuda's national team are at a rebuilding stage, that we shouldn't expect anything other than they try their best.

But when they travel overseas, Bermuda cricket is judged by the rest of the world on how they perform.

And it remains a sad reflection on the sport that the best we have to offer, albeit with an accent on youth, still isn't good enough to beat the likes of the Caymans.

- ADRIAN ROBSON