Chris Douglas, the player expected to open Bermuda’s batting with Dion Stovell in the ICC World Twenty/20 Qualifiers in Dubai, has been sidelined with road rash following a bike accident just prior to the team’s departure.

Douglas, who travelled to the United Arab Emirates with the Bermuda team but has been only a spectator in the two warm-up matches, is unlikely to play in the opening matches of the tournament as he battles some stiffness in his knees.

Bermuda’s first match is tomorrow against Scotland in Group B. In Douglas’ absence Bermuda experimented with Tre Manders and Terryn Fray as opening partners for Stovell in the two warm-up matches.

“He can’t put on pads but he’s been hitting tennis balls,” said Manders. “We’re not going to rush him.”

Manders said he was “still thinking about” who will open with Stovell in the first match. “There are still some areas we need to work in,” said the coach.

“In 20/20 you have to think on your feet because the order can always change.

If we get a good start we can send one of the stroke players in and if we’re behind we can send one of the big hitters in. The batting order will change from game to game.”

Douglas’ absence will be a blow to the team as Manders knows what the left-hander is capable of following a blistering 89 off 75 as an opener against the US in the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 Tournament in May after Bermuda had been set 221 to win and did so with five wickets in hand.

Now others will have to step up, but there is plenty of depth in the batting as was seen yesterday in the warm-up win over Canada.

“Tre and Dion put on a good partnership yesterday (45 v Italy) but today Terryn didn’t bat too long,” Manders acknowledged.

‘I’m not totally decided on that yet, it could be decided on today. We still have another training session tomorrow.

“I know Dion will be the opener but who his partner will be — it was supposed to be Chris — right now we are still working out who that will be.”

There has been some inconsistency in the early order with both David Hemp and Lionel Cann, batting at three and four, failing to reach double figures yesterday against Canada.

As is the theme with many teams, Bermuda will likely go with a spinner — Derrick Brangman, probably — to open the bowling. He did so in the two warm-up matches, sharing the new ball with Malachi Jones and then Kamau Leverock.

“We’ve been changing our bowlers around, ‘Mali’ only bowled two overs yesterday so we will change it up with a mixture of spin and medium,” said Manders. He acknowledged the team’s confidence will be boosted with yesterday’s timely, hard-fought victory.

“We’ll have to wait and see but I think they are still confident because we shouldn’t have lost the game (v Italy) yesterday,” he stated. “And today we just beat Canada who just beat Afghanistan, one of the favourites. And they didn’t just beat them, they dismantled them!

“It’s wide open and that’s the nature of 20/20 cricket, most of the teams here are on the same level. Papua New Guinea beat Ireland today . . . easily.”

And Manders insists Italy, more known for football, can’t be taken lightly either, as was seen in the first warm-up match.

“Italy have Australians, Sri Lankans, Indians, they have more high performance cricketers than Bermuda have in one league,” Manders stressed.

“These teams all have expats playing for them; there’s no Italians for Italy, no Canadian for Canada, no Americans for the United States. Holland have Indians, Scotland have Indians and Pakistanis and that’s just the nature of cricket now with ICC promoting six teams going to the Twenty/20 World Cup, four teams going to the World Cup and guys who can’t play for India and Pakistan just go to other countries because they know they have an opportunity to make the World Cup.

“There is no team here that when we walk on the field we can say we are sure to beat them. But I can proudly say that Bermuda is the only team that has only Bermudians, not a bunch of expats, and we are a high level of cricket.”