Bermuda's national squad players must get away from the `club' mentality and display more pride in representing their country, according to coach Winston Reid.

Speaking on the heels of Sunday's comprehensive 74-run defeat at the hands of visiting Marylebone Cricket Club, Reid, a former Bermuda international opening batsman, noted a distinct lack of passion displayed by several squad members.

"I tend to believe they can do better, but it's as if when guys are playing for club they do a lot better than when they're playing for country,'' said Reid, who was born in Barbados but has lived in Bermuda for the better part of two decades.

"We have to start thinking country rather than just club, because it's unacceptable that guys will perform better for their club.

"We must have national pride. Today I don't think we had any at all in our batting, our approach was not good at all.

"Go out there, put your heads down, bat and pick up your ones and twos. And I saw some batsmen go out there, hit the ball in the air and walk off ... they didn't care a damn about what happened, and that's unacceptable.'' The coach added that rather than playing to the whim of spectators, players had to buckle down and get on with the task of aiding the team's cause, particularly in the batting department.

Bermuda's front-line batsmen produced the most graphic failure over the weekend, with only Clay Smith distinguishing himself with a century on Saturday and a top score of 25 on Sunday. The remainder, for the most part, collapsed under the pressure of a disciplined MCC attack, failing to reach 200 on both occasions.

Club side Western Stars coasted to 214-9 in the opening tour game and then made the tourists sweat for victory in what has been the best match to date.

"I saw some players that went out there and my impression was that they were trying to please the crowd, and that's unacceptable,'' added Reid.

"There are going to be critics and the best way to silence critics is to go out there and win, or at least go and give a good account of yourself. We failed to do that, which will leave us open for criticism.

"But who's going to get criticised? The coaches and administrators, the players are going to get off scott free.'' Bermuda will face MCC for a third time at Somerset today, with a much-changed BCBC Select line-up including several names who were excluded from the final ICC Trophy squad.

Today's team: Curtis Jackson, Sheridan Ming, Wendell White, Geln Blakeney, Corey Hill, David Adams, Dean Minors, Del Hollis, Jacobi Robinson, Lionel Cann, Garry Williams, Stephen Outerbridge.

Winston Reid: `We have to start thinking country rather than club'.