New faces in national squad
AS expected, Bermuda’s first senior national team since the World Cup in the Caribbean has a fresh look about it with several new additions for the month-long tour to Denmark, Holland and Ireland next month.The squad of 13 was revealed to the players at a meeting on Tuesday night, and it is expected the Bermuda Cricket Board will announce the tour party to the media in the next few days. However it is understood there are several new faces to the squad, including Flatts’ hard-hitting West Indies-born batsman James Celestine, wicket-keeper Roderick Masters of Bailey’s Bay and batsman Maurice Lowe of Western Stars. Back in contention are wicket-keeper Jekon Edness and bowlers Ryan Steede and George O’Brien who were overlooked for the World Cup.
The retirement of Saleem Mukuddem, Clay Smith and Dean Minors after the World Cup meant that new faces would have to be brought in as the board began rebuilding the team around the likes of captain Irving Romaine, Lionel Cann, Stephen Outerbridge and Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock and Kevin Hurdle who are all in the new squad along with Stefan Kelly, Malachi Jones and Rodney Trott who will join the squad from Under-19 World Cup qualifying matches in Canada.
Two other notable omissions are Southampton Rangers pair Jameiro Tucker and Kwame Tucker who are both serving three-match suspensions from domestic matches. Kwame was found to be in contravention of a level 2 break of the Code of Conduct — namely showing serious dissent at an umpire’s decision by action or verbal abuse.
Janeiro, who captained the team in Ireland two years ago when they qualified for the World Cup after skipper Clay Smith suffered an early injury, has also be slapped with a three-match ban after being found to be in contravention of two level 2 breaches of the Code of Conduct. He was charged with showing serious dissent at an umpire’s decision by action or verbal abuse and using language of an obscene, offensive or insulting nature to another person.
Coach Gus Logie recently slammed the lack of commitment shown by some senior players to training for the upcoming commitments. New faces had been added to the training squad as a result.
“It’s well documents but we have pressed forward and have come up with a squad we hope to release in a few days’ time,” said Logie this week.
“We are looking at some Under-19 players as well and once they are available they will be included in the squad. I’m always optimistic things will improve, but we’ll continue to work with what we have.”
The squad is due to leave on August 5 and return on September 4, playing warm-up matches in Denmark , then on to Holland and Ireland for the Intercontinental Cup and one-day matches.
[bul] Former national team wicket-keeper Dean Minors revealed this week that he offered to come out of retirement to play in one-day matches if his country needed him.
Minors, who is nursing tendinitis in his knees which is very likely to rule him out of Cup Match, revealed how he met with coach Logie for lunch about a month after the team returned from the World Cup and offered to continue playing in one-day matches. He never heard anything further after Logie said he would take it back to the board.
“I told him depending upon the circumstances I would reconsider,” Minors revealed.
“But I did get word from inside sources that my request had been
Minors confirmed he is still doubtful for Cup Match because of both the knee situation as well as possibly being abroad during holiday.
“I’ll probably be off the island trying to rest my knees so that I can play the second half of the season with Flatts,” said the 37-year-old who has been one of the national team’s most consistent performers during the last couple of years.
Minors’ absence will be a blow to the champions who are seeking three straight victories. He and Clay Smith are two of the longest-serving Cup Match players. Smith, who also has knee issues, has said this could be his last year if he plays. He made his Cup Match debut in 1987 while Minors broke through the following year.
Even so, the island’s top ‘keeper hasn’t confirmed a retirement, leaving the door open to a return next year. Like Allan Douglas, whom he replaced, he knows there are others knocking on the door as the club begins searching for another wicket-keeper.
“I really haven’t yet decided, I think I’ll just take one day at a time,” he said. “I know if I don’t play this year that would probably be it.”
Minors returned to the St. George’s team last year but said playing in that match was more important than playing next year which will be 20 years since he made his debut.
“Last year to play in Cup Match was more sentimental,” he explained. “At the time my mom was sick and also (fan) Ruby Smith who was the one who paid my dues. She was adamant on seeing me play again. Ironically, both of them passed, but both got to see me play in what could be my last Cup Match.”
Added Minors: “I think I’m more concerned about the development at St. George’s as opposed to personal achievements. With Jason Anderson and Chris Foggo showing promise and the ICC coming up, it’s really time for these guys to get focused and be serious. We have ODI status and it’s time for them to say ‘here I am, I’m playing in Cup Match and it’s time to be serious with my cricket’. Remember, it is time for them to carry the torch.
“A guy told me these that these young guys have to earn their spots, you just can’t go ahead and give it to them. I’m at the crossroads as it relates to that, I feel I can still play but at the same time you have to allow these guys to ‘grow up’.
“What would bring me back into Cup Match is if I see that these guys are not serious. It’s the same thing in the national team. I wasn’t given the position, I had to earn it. To take it over from Dougie (Allan Douglas), that was a serious thing.”
The east end club faced a Douglas-Minors dilemma several years ago when pressure to include club player Minors and the reluctance to discard Douglas saw them select both players for cup Match.
“I kept wicket and then I remember a few years later when Dougie was fielding out and I got injured and he kept wicket,” recalled Minors.
“One year I was dropped, didn’t have too good a year and Dougie had a phenomenal season behind the stumps and I was dropped and Dougie kept wicket.”
Minors comes from a long line of top ‘keepers at both St. George’s and the national squad where the island boasted the likes of Wainwright, Barry DeCouto, Douglas, Ricky Hill, Anthony Manders and Roger Trott. He sees Kwame Tucker, Jekon Edness, Anderson and Foggo as the next generation.
“I think these guys have to understand that wicket-keeping is an art, a passion and a respectable job,” said Minors. “When I was a young ‘keeper I didn’t take it lightly.
‘I got my standards from people like Dennis Wainwright, Allan Douglas, Barry DeCouto, Roger Trott, Ricky Hill, Porky Manders. These guys had the image of a keeper and I followed that.”
New faces in national squad
