This past week on the radio, TV, in the streets, at the clubs, just about everywhere the hot topic was Bermuda cricket and rightfully so. Bermuda’s disastrous showing has had people talking and expressing their feelings openly. The one thing that surprised me more than anything was the amount of emails I received inundated with questions upon questions, that they wanted discussed in my weekly column. Well here it is.Q: How has our team come from such a high to such a low in a short time?A: Well we have to deal with reality in 2005 after we qualified we lost one of Bermuda’s best batsmen in the likes of Albert Steede. Shortly after that in 2007 three other seasoned players left the squad, Dean Minors, Saleem Mukuddem and myself. Over the next two years the National Squad also lost Janeiro Tucker, Dwayne Leverock and Lionel Cann making way for the youngsters who the Bermudian public thought had arrived and were ready to take over the mantle. Let the truth be told that those seven players, whom I mentioned were special, exceptionally gifted beyond the average player. To make matters worse, the three players whom Bermuda focused on to lead us into the next era were absent in this last tournament. OJ Pitcher and Jekon Edness were unavailable due to school commitments, which is understandable. The other notable player missing was Steven Outerbridge who is still injured. There is no doubt that the absence of these players played a major part in our demise. So at the end of the day we lost an abundance of talent in a short span of time and it is going to be a while before we find another group of players of that quality to replace them.Q: Should David Hemp be replaced as captain and should Bermuda look to move on without him?A: First of all I think Hemp is the best man for the job providing he makes the decision to move to Bermuda full time to train with the team so he can learn his players inside and out. However, we all know that this is not going to happen as he has his family and career to think about. Therefore, I think Hemp should step down as captain but continue to play. This would be a good time for us to breed a new captain while Hemp is still around so that he can assist in nurturing and assisting the new captain in his new role. Hemp is no doubt the most experienced player in the team, and while many of you would like to kick all of the senior players to the curb experience are needed to bring the young players through. This was proven with our recent approach to batting.Q: What do you think of David Moore as a coach and what do you think about his comments pertaining to turf wickets?A: From what I have seen he is a very organised coach and well respected by the players, but truthfully speaking it would be impossible for me to make a realistic assessment on him as I have not been around him or his sessions enough. However, I will say that his track record with the team thus far has been dreadful in terms of results, but it is still early days. Surprisingly though the news media have been extremely lenient on him, considering Gus was always being criticised left right and center during his lean streaks, even after he helped us to the world cup, very strange. As for his comments on turf wickets there is no doubt this is an issue. We used to have turf wickets at the National Stadium, but I don’t know what happened to them. It is impossible to have turf-training wickets everywhere on the island because that would require full-time grounds men. With the abundance of funding that we once had, this is an area that the Bermuda Cricket Board fell short. By now the Cricket Board should have had their own training facility with both turf and artificial surfaces.Q: Looking forward who is the one player we should build the team around?A: If I had to pick one player that the team had to be built around it would be OJ Pitcher as he is by far the most talented player in Bermuda. What makes OJ different from the rest of the players is his ability to stay calm and focused under pressure, his ability to think through tough situations, which is critical in one day cricket. However, I think a team should be built around a core of six to seven players. The next core of players the team should be built around should be Dion Stovell, Malachi Jones, Chris Douglas, OJ Pitcher, Delyone Borden, Steven Outerbridge, and Rodney Trott. These players give you a foundation, a solid base to build a strong team around.Q: What young players do you see coming through that have the potential to be exceptional?A: In my eyes young means under-16 players who have yet to play for the national team. There are three players that stick out in my mind and they are Kamel Easton, CJ Outerbridge and Delray Rawlins. These three players have the world at their feet. Kamel who is maybe 15 at the oldest is Bermuda’s answer to fast bowling. He is quick, aggressive and eager to learn, simply a natural. Definitely, Bermuda’s next Adrian King, that’s how highly I rate him. CJ Outerbridge is a left arm fast bowler with a big in-swinger. He is respected in the Caribbean by all the youth coaches as he has torn apart the best young players in the Caribbean with his accurate bowling. Lastly, we have Delray Rawlins, a left handed batsman who plays with the finesse of a Noel Gibbons. So natural is he that he went to the Caribbean as a left arm seamer, was asked to bowl some left arm spin in the nets and was so good at it that I asked him to bowl spin for the remainder of the tournament. Not only did he end up with the most wickets for Bermuda in that tournament, but he got invited to the St.Kitt’s All Star team for his stellar performances. Don’t get me wrong there are some other young players who will be real good, but how far they go in the game will depend on their love for the game. Sorry to the public for not answering all of the questions put before me, but I thought these were the most important and most interesting. Bermuda is no different from many other teams around the world that have had their ups and downs, good days and bad.The West Indies are a prime example they were once the best in the world virtually untouchable, but now they are, to put it politely, mediocre and rebuilding. The same can be said about Liverpool in football. Now is the time for Bermuda to rebuild, with a focus on youth built around our core players, with the heart and passion for it.Quote of the week: Don’t judge a man by how tall he is, judge a man by the size of his heart Charles Berkeley