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Oronde's future in doubt

Oronde Bascome's future with the senior national squad remains uncertain as it is understood the opening batsman had a short-term Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) contract terminated last week.

Bascome reportedly skipped a mandatory training session to attend the Dudley Eve soccer final at Somerset Cricket Club last week which violated terms of his contract with the Board.

The St.George's cricketer had been among those fully contracted by the BCB and was due to tour the Caribbean later this month with Gus Logie's team.

However, it remains unclear whether or not he will be given a chance to redeem himself before the squad depart for World Cup qualifiers in South Africa in March by travelling with his team-mates at the end of this month to the Caribbean.

"Oronde missed a couple of training sessions and didn't have a valid excuse," one BCB source told The Royal Gazette last night. "He went to a football match when everybody else showed up for training."

Bascome was summoned to a meeting with BCB executives last Friday.

It was only last December senior national team officials met with the same player over concerns about his level of commitment to training.

"Oronde hasn't been putting much effort and so Gus met with him before the team travelled to Argentina in December. Gus didn't feel as though Oronde was putting as much effort as he should have been," the BCB source added.

"Oronde was lagging behind and Gus basically told him that if he didn't pull up his socks he can forget it. Oronde may have thought his place was safe but the Board are taking World Cup qualifiers very seriously this time around."

It is understood Board officials had strong words for a few of Bascome's team-mates who have also reportedly missed training sessions in the past.

Only last week BCB director Arnold Manders warned those under contract not to be lured into a false belief that they had become "indispensable".

"The players are on contract but if they continually fail to meet the obligations of their contract then there is a chance they can be removed from the programme and someone else drafted in. This is basically like a job and they have already been told nothing is cast in stone and that nobody is indispensable."

BCB president Reggie Pearman, coach Logie and Manders declined to comment last night.