A MAJOR upheaval on the eve of a major sporting event. Sound familiar?

How many times have we seen it in Bermuda?

How often have off-the-field issues disrupted all the hard work and preparation?

When everything seems to be going perfectly well, this small island seems to have a horrible habit of shooting itself in the foot.

Hopefully, that won't be the case following the shock dismissal of veteran cricketer Charlie Marshall from the Ireland-bound ICC Trophy squad earlier this week.

But the team fly out on Sunday and there are many who feel that without Marshall's experience and the productive bat which he so often wields to great effect in international competition, our chances of securing a place in the 2007 World Cup have been severely dented.

Nobody can dispute the contribution Marshall has made during more than 20 years of national team duty, or how his influence has shaped results.

And bearing that in mind, one can only think that Bermuda Cricket Board's decision to toss him off the squad at this late stage was based on some pretty damning evidence.

It's been alleged that he argued with skipper Clay Smith and was continually disruptive.

And if that was indeed the case, then he probably had to go. No one player's bigger than the team, and no individual can be allowed to jeopardise team spirit, particularly days before an event as important as the ICC Trophy.

But as sports historian Warrington (Soup) Zuill asked in yesterday's Gazette, couldn't the matter have been settled quietly and firmly without further disruption?

As the most senior member on the squad, couldn't Marshall have been taken to one side by the coach, captain and selectors and warned in no uncertain terms that his behaviour wouldn't be tolerated any further and that he either got in line or got out?

Perhaps those steps were taken, and if they were neither Marshall nor his supporters have any grounds for complaint.

But one suspects that he was never given the severe warning he should have received, nor was the matter nipped in the bud before it got out of hand.

As a result, we now go into battle with some of the world's top cricket-playing nations minus one of our star players.

It's an all too familiar scenario.

Thankfully, Marshall's replacement happens to be the in-form Chris Foggo, who many believe should have been included in the final 14 in the first place.

And there still remains a genuine belief among the players that Bermuda can return from Ireland with the greatest prize of all - a place in the next World Cup.

Following Sunday's flight to the UK, three warm-up matches in southern England next week should offer some sign of the team's potential.

And a week later it's down to the real business in Belfast.

Hopefully by then the Marshall saga will be long forgotten, and the players' focus firmly fixed on the job at hand.