JERSEY, Channel Islands, (CMC) – New coach Niraj Odedra has blamed a lack of player fitness after Bermuda slumped to the heaviest of their three defeats in Jersey on the final leg of at the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League B tournament, going down by 206 runs to the hosts.
Jersey piled up a mammoth 381 for five in their 50 overs after being sent in at the Grainville ground in St Saviour on Monday, and then restricted outclassed Bermuda to 175 for nine in reply.
Odedra said there were positives his players could take away.
“Small step towards improvement, batting all 50 overs,” he told Bermuda’s Royal Gazette newspaper afterwards.
“Bowling, there’s still a lot of room for improvement. But we had back-to-back matches and our fitness level is down and very poor, so to get something out of players we need cricketers who are super fit.
“It’s something we need to look at seriously and what we need to work on in the off-season.
“The overall vibe is still OK after three losses. But we need to do better by bowling sides out under 200 to win matches. That will only happen if we bowl the right line and length with lots of discipline.”
Bermuda have conceded more than 300 runs in all three of their defeats in Jersey, losing to Italy by 185 runs in Thursday’s opener and by 119 runs against Hong Kong on Sunday.
Monday’s defeat to Jersey was Bermuda’s 12th in 13 outings in Challenge League B with their only point coming from an abandoned match against Kenya in the first leg in Oman. They lost all five matches in the second leg in Uganda earlier this year.
Openers Harrison Carlyon (72) and Nick Greenwood (64) laid the foundation for Jersey’s daunting total by putting on 136 for the first wicket before teenagers Asa Tribe (101) and Josh Lawrenson (74) increased the punishment by adding 155 for the third wicket.
Tribe also added 71 for the fourth wicket with Jonty Jenner, who fell for 49, bowled by captain Kamau Leverock, the pick of Bermuda’s bowlers with two for 81.
In reply, Bermuda slumped to 55 for five in the 18th over, Leverock out for a first-ball duck and opener Terryn Fray run out for 26.
The middle and lower order rallied with Dominic Sabir (30), Steven Bremar (20), Charles Trott (45) and Zeko Burgess (22) offering more resistance but only delaying the inevitable. Trott and Burgess compiled the biggest stand – 55 for the ninth wicket.
Bermuda went to Jersey hoping to salvage some pride having already been eliminated from contention for the lone qualifying spot from the six-team league ahead of next year’s World Cup – a tournament they qualified for in 2007 in the Caribbean.
