Logie: There is room for improvement
National cricket coach Gus Logie yesterday gave Bermuda, who recently competed at the Under 19 World Cup in Malaysia, the thumbs up but admitted there's still room for improvement.
On their debut in the tournament, featuring some of the world's elite, Bermuda failed to progress beyond the group phase but managed to pull off an historical win over fellow ICC Associate rivals Ireland.
The significant landmark gave the island its first win at a World Cup at all levels but with better preparation, mental toughness, a more disciplined approach and the services of a few missing key players Logie believes Bermuda could've achieved more success in Asia.
"In terms of results, I'm certain they didn't get the results they would've wanted - especially in the Plate stages," the former West Indies vice -captain and coach said. "I think we did well to win a game but always knew playing against England and Bangladesh was going to be a David versus Goliath situation.
"Not every day you are going to beat a Goliath but every now and then if you throw enough stones you may get one to land where you want it to but you need to be consistent."
And consistency, he noted, was not one of Bermuda's strengths on tour.
"Beating Ireland was a great fillip but instead of continuing from there we fell through the gap against Papua New Guinea before losing to Ireland," Logie continued. "I think the players would've been disappointed not being able to carry on from the Ireland success.
"I think we played in spurts. One day the players would do everything that was asked of them and then the next it was kind of difficult to understand why they would not. The consistency was not there.
"But I think the experienced gained from playing at the higher level will have put the players in good stead and there's no two ways about that. The level of competition they met was a lot higher than what they are used to and I think they have to be commended for their efforts on the field of play."
Discipline on tour was also a challenge team management had to constantly face with all -rounder Malachi Jones being stripped of the vice-captaincy for disciplinary reasons and fellow all-rounder Chris Douglas sent home early after also landing himself in hot water.
"I don't think anybody would say it was an incident-free tour or that everybody behaved like angels," Logie said. "We did have instances when management had to take stern action against players which is no secret as one of the players was sent home. And I wouldn't say that was an isolated incident which is unfortunate.
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