THERE can be few sports, if any, in which the toss of a coin is as significant as it is in cricket.

In football, for instance, it merely decides who kicks off. In a golf play-off, it determines who has the honour. In tennis, it may decide who serves first. No matter how the coin falls, it?s unlikely to have a major bearing on the final outcome.

But in cricket, as anyone who plays or follows the sport will know, it means everything, particularly in the longer version of the game.

Depending on the condition of the pitch, whichever captain wins the toss can decide whether to bat or bowl and thus establish a huge advantage from the outset.

And so it was in Namibia this week on a hard, fast track that was always going to favour the batsmen.

Already facing a daunting challenge against a Kenyan team frequently described as the best outside Test cricket, Bermuda captain Clay Smith will have realised as soon as he lost that flip of the coin on Sunday morning, the odds were stacked heavily against him.

It was no surprise when his opposite number Steve Tikolo chose to bat first on a strip offering absolutely no assistance to the bowlers, proceeded himself to amass a record Intercontinental Cup score of 220, and kept Bermuda?s fielders out in the blazing sun for almost the entire day.

The match was as good as won on that very first morning.

That?s not to offer excuses on Bermuda?s behalf.

But had that coin flipped the other way, and had Smith had the opportunity to bat first, the outcome may well have been very different. Even Kenya?s players admitted as such.

Ultimately a ?losing? draw on a pitch as benign as that at the United Sports Ground in Windhoek, in Bermuda?s first-ever international cup semi-final, was nothing to be ashamed of.

Coach Gus Logie and his players will have taken far more positives out of this result than negatives.

Tikolo?s mammoth innings might have won Man of the Match award, but Smith?s disciplined unbeaten innings of 126 was equally impressive. If the Island captain hasn?t finally silenced his critics with this performance, then quite clearly he never will.

The ever-improving Irving Romaine (56) and ever-reliable Dean Minors (51) showed that they too belong at this level of international cricket, and while the attack might have lacked penetration ? hindered in no small way by the late withdrawal of main strike bowler Kevin Hurdle who went down with a virus ? all of those who took the ball demonstrated a lot of heart.

Against a team of Kenya?s pedigree, it was always going to be a learning experience and the fact that Bermuda emerged with a draw will have given Logie and his men much encouragement.

Why that encouragement didn?t spill over into yesterday?s disappointing one-day loss to an under-strength Namibia side remains something of a mystery.

On this occasion they did win the toss but on the same flat wicket, minus skipper Smith, they failed miserably in their attempt to set a challenging target. Lionel Cann again showed his worth at the end of the order with a blazing, unbeaten 72 but there was little else either in the batting or bowling department to comfort coach Logie.

Perhaps the players were suffering the effects of three hard days of cricket against Kenya, but this wasn?t the same Bermuda team we?ve become accustomed to following throughout the summer.

It?s now very clear there remains a weakness in the side that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

In Ireland, where Bermuda qualified for the World Cup, in Canada, where they advanced to this week?s semi-finals, and now in Namibia, Logie has been unable to find an opening partnership capable of building a solid foundation.

Almost in every match Bermuda have played this year the onus has been on the middle order - the likes of Romaine, Smith and Janeiro Tucker - to steady the ship after the opening pair have failed.

No disrespect to Curtis Jackson and Kwame Steede but they too failed to deliver this week, just as those before them.

More than half a dozen combinations have now been tried but none seemingly successful.

It?s a problem Logie is well aware he must solve before the World Cup in 2007 rolls around.