Bermuda's cricketers fly to Canada tomorrow for a tri-series that represents the first steps on the final leg of a journey which will finish at the World Cup qualifiers in Dubai next April.

The players who appear over the next two weeks, and the ones who have played for Bermuda throughout the summer, are the best cricketers on the Island. They are the ones that will be tasked with restoring the country's one-day international status, and maybe reaching a second World Cup.

Realistically though, success may be measured by avoiding relegation to Division Three of the World Cricket League. Unthinkable two years ago, of the six teams that Bermuda are likely to face in Dubai, they have lost to four of them – Uganda, UAE, Namibia and USA – quite convincingly in the past 18 months.

It is with all this in mind that David Moore's largely inexperienced side will face West Indies 'A' and Canada in Toronto, having yet to prove themselves capable of competing at the level required.

For the likes of Dion Stovell and Jason Anderson the next fortnight will be an ideal opportunity for them to show that their impressive domestic form can be translated into international success, and that Bermuda's brittle batting line-up, does not necessarily have to be so porus.

There is opportunity too in the bowling department where spinners Tamauri Tucker and Delyone Borden, and pace bowler Kyle Hodsoll, will get the chance to force their way into Moore's longer term plans.

Moore has always said that he wants players to take the opportunities when they present themselves, and why wouldn't he.

The tour will present him with the chance to try several different combinations with bat and ball. David Hemp and Terryn Fray seem like the ideal opening partnership, while Hemp and Stovell has an interesting look about it.

In fact, with six opening batsmen in the squad, the head coach could do just about anything with his batting line-up, and has enough games to do so.

But what if the players that go to Canada struggle, much as the team as a whole have struggled this season, where does that leave them? Losing to West Indies 'A' would be no disaster, they are, after all, bringing a team that includes two cricketers who have Test experience.

However, another defeat to Canada, or several defeats to Canada, and the future will look increasingly bleak. Canada, and USA for that matter, are teams that Bermuda have to be beating if they are to harbour any serious aspirations of regaining their previous standing in Associate cricket.

Would an unsuccessful tour, if results are to be the benchmark for success, increase the clamour for the return of the old guard, the likes of Janeiro Tucker, Dwayne Leverock and Lionel Cann? Such a move would be short-term in the extreme, but if it preserved Bermuda's Division Two status next April, or better, might it be justified.

Or would that merely mask the greater problems in the game on the Island?

After his side were relegated from the Premier Division last month, Somerset coach Winston Reid suggested that it wasn't the worst thing that could happen to his club, and it maybe that the same is true for Bermuda cricket as a whole.

While relegation would be painful, it might provide the opportunity to properly re-build after a year or more of masking over the cracks.

So success in Canada then might just be discovering that Hemp and Fray are the ideal opening pair, that Stovell and Anderson can cut it at the next level, and that while relegation to Division Three next April is a possibility, the younger generation of players are the ones who deserve the chance to avoid it.