In spite of their six wicket defeat at the hands of Caribbean champions Barbados on Sunday at Somerset Cricket Club, skipper Clay Smith is adamant that his team acquitted themselves well against the first-class outfit.

Batting first, Bermuda put on 182 in their 50 overs ? a disappointing final score given their promising position after 25 overs of 97 for two.

In reply, Bermuda had Barbados on the ropes at 82 for four thanks mainly to the penetrating left-arm spin of Dwayne Leverock, before Bajan skipper Ryan Hinds took the game away from the local side with a blistering 62 not out.

Speaking to yesterday, the St.David?s player-coach admitted that Bermuda ?got stuck? in the middle phase of their innings ? with the team putting on only ten runs in eight overs ? and lamented a number of spurned half-chances in the field which would have swung the game further in Bermuda?s favour.

?I think we gave a good account of ourselves overall,? Smith said.

?There were a few half-chances in the field that we could have done better with and if we had taken them we could have got stuck in further to their tailenders. Looking at our batting, after a solid enough start we fell into the trap once again of always looking for the big shot and not rotating the strike as much as we could have done.?

?At the moment we are just getting the little things wrong,? Smith continued.

?When the spinner Suliemann Benn came on we kept looking to get after him and when we couldn?t we should have reverted to knocking the ball into gaps and running hard between the wickets ? turning ones into twos and putting their fielders under more pressure.

?And analysing our batting over the last few games, when we lose one wicket we have tended to lose two or three all in one go and having been in a good position we end up in a bit of a slump. But there is no doubt, though, that we are getting better gradually and these little improvements will come the longer we play together as a unit.?

Furthermore, Smith conceded that against top-class opposition his side was a quality seam bowler short, while he speculated also that the inclusion of a third spinner ? to complement the excellent dual attack of Leverock and Hasan Durham ? might have made a difference against batsmen who looked far from convincing against the turning ball.

?There is no doubt that in general West Indian batsman do not play spinners all that well,? Smith argued.

?Leverock and Durham were our trump cards and I thought they bowled very well in tandem. Perhaps it might have been worth including a third spinner ? although it is very difficult for them up at Somerset with such small boundaries to protect.

?There is no doubt though that the lack of penetration we have with the new ball is an area of concern for us and we will be looking at a number of options over the course of our matches against Barbados to see who puts their hand up.?

On the subject of fast bowlers, the promising 16-year-old quick bowler Stefan Kelly was given his international debut by the national selectors on Sunday, and though he was given a fearful hammering by a rampant Hinds in particular ? going for over 60 runs from his five overs ? Smith argued that the experience will stand the youngster in very good stead.

?It was definitely a tough debut for Stefan,? he said.

?But I think it helps young players to grow in stature and experience by taking on some of the very best at a young age. And to be honest he was fairly positive about it afterwards.

?With the white ball in Bermuda, he didn?t get anywhere near the amount of movement that he is used to over at school in England so it was hard for him to adapt. But even though he was getting some punishment towards the end when the game was lost, I still wanted to just let him bowl and to see how he responded. Stefan will learn from this and come back a much better bowler as a result.?

Meanwhile, Smith confirmed that St. David?s? highly-rated wicket keeper Dean Minors, whose appearances for both club and country have been somewhat sporadic over recent years, has been selected to play against the West Indies on Thursday.

He said also that out-going national coach Mark Harper has entered into dialogue with Somerset Cup Match skipper Janeiro Tucker to see if the talented Southampton Rangers player is willing to involve himself in the national squad?s preparations for the ICC Trophy in Ireland next year.

There are many who believe, the captain included, that Bermuda stand a much better chance of World Cup qualification if these two can be coaxed out of the international wilderness.

?We have been talking to a number of players who have not been involved over the summer to see if we can get them to commit themselves to our programme over the next year,? Smith said.

?It is really important that we make every effort to ensure that the best squad of cricketers this Island has to offer are in Ireland next year so we hope the likes of Dean and Janeiro will want to get involved and help us obtain our goals. In general though, I?m extremely happy with the players I?ve got around me and the camaraderie is excellent.?