Bermuda cricket coach Cal Waldron has expressed his concern that players selected in the final squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League play-off in Malaysia are still playing football.

Waldron revealed that those selected were advised to discontinue football activities when the team was announced last week to avoid getting hurt, but captain Delray Rawlins, Terryn Fray and reserve Dion Stovell were among those involved in the Premier Division last weekend.

Rawlins played and scored for Paget in a 4-2 win over Dandy Town, while Stovell, one of the standby players, together with Jermal Proctor and Azendé Furbert, was an unused substitute. Fray played the whole 90 minutes when North Village triumphed 2-1 over Hamilton Parish on Saturday.

“They were supposed to stop playing when the team was selected,’’ said Waldron, whose squad departs the island on Thursday for a pre-tournament training camp in India.

“I'm not sure why they still played. They made the commitment to cricket, so they just have to stop playing football and concentrate on cricket.”

A final squad of 14 was named last week by the Bermuda Cricket Board, with the biggest news being the inclusion of all-rounder Kamau Leverock.

The 29-year-old is part of a squad that will attempt to keep Bermuda in contention for a spot in the 2027 Cricket World Cup, with the first task being a top-four finish in the eight-team competition in Malaysia.

“It’s a really good team,’’ Waldron said. “It’s well-balanced and it gives you plenty options as a coach to move players around. It gives me as a coach a lot of flexibility.

“Chris [Douglas ] is a versatile key player and he can turn a match. He made himself available, he came for training and he was selected to make the final cut.

“Marcus Scotland and Chare Smith are two good additions and the future of Bermuda’s cricket.

“Chare’s been making himself available and he hasn't been selected in the past. Now he’s got the opportunity to present his skills and gamesmanship.

“Chare is more of a bowler and late-order batsman. We take him more as a bowler and he has overseas and international experience playing in different leagues and conditions.

“We already have the two keepers from previous tours, so we’re mainly taking Marcus as a batsman.”

Turning to the team’s training sessions, Waldron has witnessed numbers growing after the festive-season break. Bad weather has, however, kept the team indoors at Bermuda High School for Girls.

Leverock, Richardson, Scotland and Smith will meet up with the rest of the squad in India.

“The training’s been going well and the numbers have increased,’’ Waldron told The Royal Gazette.

“We anticipated that once the Christmas period ended we were going to have more numbers at training. We now have exceptional numbers.

“For the guys overseas, we've come up with a training plan. We’ll go through that with everybody around us when we go to India.

“That will give us a chance to prepare more as a team and get some much needed practice.

“We’re training on Friday evenings from 7pm to 9pm, then on Sunday mornings between 9am and 11am. We’re still at BHS and the weather hasn’t been favourable to start at the stadium, so we’re still training.”