Bermuda coach Arnold Manders will be hoping that three days’ rest will enable his nephew Tre Manders to be fit for selection for tomorrow’s fourth Group B match against Afghanistan in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers in Dubai.

Manders, who led the batting with an unbeaten 45 in the nine-wicket win over Denmark, was forced to sit out Sunday’s match against Netherlands which Bermuda lost by eight wicket. But with a rest day yesterday and today and treatment for his shoulder injury, Manders could be fit enough to boost the Bermuda batting against Afghanistan, one of the pre-tournament favourites.

“It was from throwing on the boundary, we thought we would get Chris (Douglas) in and let him rest for three days which would be good for his arm,” explained Manders. “He should be fine for the next game.”

The second opening spot has been something of an Achilles heel for Bermuda with Douglas, the man expected to open with Dion Stovell, suffering road rash on his knees following a bike accident just prior to the team’s departure. He scored just one against the Netherlands.

The tournament is reaching a crucial stage of the round robin phase with five of the eight teams in Bermuda’s group all on four points with 2-1 records.

As group leaders Nepal became the last team to suffer defeat when they went down Scotland yesterday by eight wickets. Nepal scored 137 for seven and Scotland replied with 138 for two with four balls remaining. It was Scotland’s first win of the tournament.

In the other Group B match Kenya comfortably beat Denmark by eight wickets in a clash between two winless teams. Denmark managed 84 for eight in their allotted overs and Kenya replied with 85 for two in just 9.1 overs.

Now, the battle for the top three places will intensify as Scotland play Kenya today, Netherlands meet Denmark and Papua New Guinea play Nepal.

With their final three matches against three of the stronger teams, Kenya, Nepal and Papua New Guinea, Manders knows there will be little margin for error.

“All the matches are going to be tough and whoever makes the fewer mistakes will be the team that wins,” said Manders after Sunday’s loss to Netherlands. That match, and the one between Papua New Guinea and Afghanistan, was played in a desert storm as the conditions worsened on Sunday.

“Afghanistan had a let off, they were supposed to be chasing 167 but then the rain came and they had to score 69 in seven overs,” Manders said.

Bermuda’s batting is starting to produce, scoring 144 for eight against Netherlands, though the coach felt they were about 30 short of a challenging total.

“I think with another 30 runs we could have been fine but we could have also done better bowling into the wind.”

“Holland had the better of us and there was nothing we could do about that,” Manders conceded. “Their bowlers did a better job bowling into the wind but ours struggled. Derrick (Brangman) and Jacobi (Robinson) were our two better bowlers.”