Bermuda began the Dubai leg of their tour to the Far East on Friday with training as scheduled, but much of what went before clearly was not according to plan.

Last-minute developments resulted in the mysterious withdrawal of Temiko Wilson, the Western Stars wicketkeeper-batsman, from the 14-man squad for the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division Three tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the hasty inclusion of Onias Bascome, the teenaged St George’s all-rounder, who is based in England.

The Bermuda Cricket Board, which was in no position to expound on the reasons for the eleventh-hour squad change as Hurricane Gonzalo descended on the Island, has taken a financial hit on an emergency London-Kuala Lumpur-London ticket for Bascome.

That is all that could be gleaned from what otherwise has been a rollercoaster period for Bermuda cricket.

First the uncertainty of whether the team would travel to Uganda in the wake of news of an alleged foiled terrorist plot. Then, coincidentally or not, came the news that David Hemp, Bermuda’s only player with first-class credentials, and Stefan Kelly, the UK-based fast bowler, were unavailable — the first because of starting a new job in Melbourne and the second owing to school commitments.

Hysteria ratcheted up by the uninformed and the misinformed about the threat of terror in Uganda — not to mention the derisory linking of the Ebola epidemic, which from its localised threat in West Africa is almost as close to Bermuda as the crow flies as it is to Uganda — resulted in the tournament being shifted to Kuala Lumpur by a panicky International Cricket Council. (Ebola cases have been diagnosed since which in the United States and Spain, one fatal, while the latest alleged terrorist plot has been foiled not in Uganda but in London)

Then came the official Bermuda squad announcement, followed days later by reports of cricketers being shot at in a miles-long chase that resulted in images of an abandoned vehicle with bullet holes in its rear doing the rounds on social media.

The next abandonments, on police advice, were the Lindo’s T20 final and BF&M Under-17 All-Star Game; after almost a week to ponder the situation, the Bermuda Cricket Board took the sensible decision to end the season.

Days later, Fiqre Crockwell, the wicketkeeper-batsman and one of only two players in the Bermuda squad from two-times defending league champions St David’s — where were first-day Cup Match heroes OJ Pitcher and George O’Brien? — withdrew himself with little or no information as to why publicly revealed. Wilson, the standby player, was named as his replacement.

Then, in the most transparent lines of communication between the Board and Bermuda public, head coach Arnold Manders was stood down after walking pneumonia was diagnosed. Manders first became ill in April and never really shook what was thought to be a mild case of pneumonia before doctors advised him against travelling to the Far East.

His announcement to the team that he would not be travelling, with Allan Douglas making the journey in his stead, came as he warned the players that anyone putting themselves and the team at risk by playing football would be axed. Such an eventuality would have meant that the Board face having to foot the bill for any ticket changes.

With Malachi Jones, Allan Douglas Jr and Dion Stovell ceasing and desisting from football, it was thought, by the public at least, that the Board had dodged a bullet (no pun intended).

Then came the unprecedented withdrawal by a standby player (yes, he asked to be removed) and the inclusion of one whose domestic form this season would not get him into most Premier Division teams.

The plot thickens.

Neil Speight, the BCB chief executive, said on Friday before the full force of Hurricane Gonzalo could be felt that he was not at liberty to confirm anything other than the late amendment to the travelling party, with eight players having left Bermuda last Wednesday night instead of the originally scheduled nine.

As well as Bascome, the other British-based players are Delray Rawlins, Terryn Fray, Kamau Leverock, Christian Burgess and Tre Manders.

Bermuda, captained by Janeiro Tucker, had practice matches scheduled for yesterday and tomorrow before heading to Malaysia, where they will open the tournament with a match against the United States on Thursday.