National cricket coach Niraj Odedra has challenged his players to stake their claim for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Regional Qualifier squad by impressing in the newly created Bermuda Premier League.

Consisting of two teams from Bermuda, the national side and a select XI, together with Barbados and the Grassroots Cricket Academy from Antigua, the round-robin tournament starts today with the first two matches taking place at White Hill Field from 10am.

Serving as a precursor to the World Cup qualifiers on home soil at the end of the month, Odedra has the ideal opportunity to cast his eye over selection options. While the national side is made up of those who helped Bermuda breeze through the Sub-Regional Qualifier in Argentina in March, Odedra has warned no one’s place is secure, with the door open for all players to force their way into his thinking.

“It’s all about creating healthy competition and that’s exactly what I want among the national set-up,” Odedra said at a training session at Bailey’s Bay on Tuesday.

“When you have that, every player wants to perform at a really high level because nobody’s place is safe in the squad.

“If someone is not performing, there is another player ready to take their place and that’s how it should be.

“The first team is made up of guys who did well in Argentina and I’ve had a good chance to take a good look at them, but there are a lot of other players that have done extremely well in our domestic season.

“Suddenly I have a strong pool of around 40 players who all want to play for Bermuda and that is a huge turnaround from when I first arrived.

“This tournament is a chance for those players to impress and when the two Bermuda teams play one another, there will be a part of me that will be interested to see who wins because there will be that healthy competition for places.

“There is nothing stopping a number of the players from the select XI forcing their way into the national squad for the World Cup qualifiers.”

As well as seeing the healthy competition between his own players, Odedra is also relishing the chance to gain valuable preparation against the visiting teams in advance of the stern challenge posed by Canada, Cayman Islands and Panama as Bermuda aims to reach the World Cup.

“These matches are essentially a rehearsal for the upcoming World Cup qualifier,” Odedra added.

“Both Barbados and the team from Antigua look good. Obviously you don’t quite know until you see them out on the field, but they look a strong level and will come here wanting to win.

“They will look at us as a chance to test themselves and when you play stronger teams you want to win even more, so I’m sure they will be stepping up their game up a lot.

“This tournament is an opportunity for us to get ready and we will utilise the opportunity to be as best prepared as possible for the World Cup qualifier.”

The national coach is also interested to see how his players will fare against unfamiliar opponents.

“Cricket is all about how well you adapt and so to face a different challenge from players they’ve not faced before is great,” he said.

“On island all the players know one another and so there is a chance to prepare accordingly to who you are facing, but you have to adapt quickly and learn against somebody from overseas who you’ve never played before, . That’s what we want to see.

“With T20 cricket there is not a lot of chance to plan ahead and the game develops quickly, every over in some cases, so it is about how you can adapt to those situations.

“This is when I’ll find out which players can do that and who can adapt to those new challenges.”

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