The Bermuda cricket team will play four matches in India as they prepare for the ICC Cricket Challenge League Play-off

That tournament takes place in Malaysia from February 22 to March 3 but in advance of that competition the side today fly out to India, where their training camp will be hosted by Swetal Desai, who runs Param Veer Cricket Academy in Sanjay Farm, a five-hour road trip from Mumbai.

It is there that acting head coach Cal Waldron will finally get to work with his full team of 14 players as although the majority of squad members are based on the island and have been holding indoor sessions at the Bermuda High School for Girls, those based abroad such as Kamau Leverock, Marcus Scotland, Jarryd Richardson, and Chare Smith will meet with the rest of the team in India.

Bermuda Cricket Board president Lloyd Smith was influential in arranging the camp and revealed that the team will be playing four matches against clubs from the United Arab Emirates and India.

“Right now we’re looking to play four matches in India,’’ Smith said.

“Two of our matches are against clubs from the UAE, then two matches against teams from India.”

Smith relied on his contacts to help put the tour together..

“The gentleman, Swetal Desai, has been a friend of Bermuda cricket for a long time,’’ Smith told The Royal Gazette. “He travels around the Associate nations watching all their games.

“He’s been friends with Janeiro Tucker and myself for a number of years. He’s been following Bermuda cricket since way back in 1979, when he was in school in the UK.

“We decided that we needed to do a camp before we went to Malaysia, so I reached out to him and he was very happy to host us.

“His facility has two international cricket pitches. It has an indoor facility with five nets as well as eight outdoor wickets for practice, and it has floodlights at well.

“This trip is beneficial to our team because we haven’t been able to train outside. This will be the first time that they are able to train outside and Indian wickets are similar to those in Malaysia.

The academy will provide additional bowlers so our guys can bat for much longer periods. Hopefully there are going to be a lot of spinners and our batsmen can have decent long net sessions.

“The quality of training is going to be much higher than what they are able to get here at this time of the year.”

Should Bermuda remain in contention for a spot at the 2027 Cricket World Cup by progressing from the ICC World Challenge League, Smith will consider hiring a full-time replacement for Waldron, with Niraj Odedra again being considered for the role.