The Bermuda national cricket team has just returned from a successful training camp in Jamaica.

Having played three games and won three, against decent opposition, the team should be very proud of this accomplishment.

It was only a few months ago that the senior team and management were scolded for what was quite simply an unacceptable performance in Malaysia. The dire consequences of that disastrous trip was Bermuda being relegated into Division 4 of the ICC World Cricket League.

The obvious question was how would the team respond in their next matches and it is pleasing to note that the answer was a positive one.

Given that our players have had minimal training outdoors the training camp was borne out of the necessity as the side prepares for the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 Qualifier, where the top two teams will move on to the global qualifier in Ireland in July. Before leaving the majority of our focus was on fitness and fielding due to the inclement weather and lack of practice wickets to train on.

Upon arriving in Jamaica, team spirit was positive and the players were eager to train and play some matches. The day after we arrived we spent the entire day at the grounds training and engaging in batting scenarios. This was a big ask of the players, but they knew the work had to be done and they did it without any fuss.

The tour was compact, with training sessions followed by three matches with no rest days. This was a good test to see how far we had come with our fitness. For the most part players held up very well, with just one our two niggling injuries.

The team was once again led by Janeiro Tucker, with OJ Pitcher made vice captain. The players have a vast amount of respect for Janeiro and they have a tremendous amount of faith in him, which is needed when things get tight.

Overall it was a successful tour. We would have loved to have scored more runs, but the wicket was tough to bat on, hence the low totals. However, the team and the coaching staff can walk away from this tour with lots of positives. Now, it’s about working hard over the next three weeks to prepare for the tournament in Indianapolis, where Bermuda will play Canada, USA and Suriname.

This was my first time back as assistant coach working alongside Arnold Manders, the head coach, Lorenzo Tucker, the analyst, and Terry Fray, the team manager. As a group I thought we worked extremely well together. We met with the team every day to discuss plans for the game and going over video footage.

Lorenzo is such an important element to the team, as he collects not only video footage, but also ball-by-ball stats and data. What he can show us in terms of tactical and technical is astronomical. We were able to use slow motion, frame-by-frame analysis, with individual batsmen to highlight some very small, but important technical flaws. Any stats from the game that we wanted, he was able to produce, which at the higher level is critical.

Fray came on board as manager for the first time with the senior team and as expected did a remarkable job. He made sure that the players didn’t want for anything. This enabled them to solely focus on playing cricket. More importantly the players developed a good rapport with him and respected his authority, which helped the tour to run smoothly.

Now Arnold and I have to plan the way forward so that we are peaking for the first week in May. There is an abundance of work to be done. As I told the players, it is all up to us. It comes down to how much work are we willing to put in, and what we are willing to sacrifice, to assure we claim one of these top two positions.

While Jamaica was a success we must stay focused because there is a lot of cricket to be played in the near future which will help shape Bermuda’s future.