Lest we forget

Picture: James Whittaker @ Bermuda Sun

The Final fiasco and Dwayne's back

I am still pondering that World Cup Final you know. Speaking to a few colleagues out here and the same thing sweeps over them, too. How can five officials get it so wrong?

Anyway, I managed to clear my head after the Final to do another podcast direct from the ground. Click here to listen to Podcast 17. I deal with the show chronologically for this show. I start at 6am by speaking to my taxi driver, then it's both sets of fans before hearing from Percy, Sri Lank's most-loved cricket supporter, who always has a story each time I meet him. And Mike Gatting gives us some ranting to end the show. The best is saved until last, as I bump into our man Dwayne Leverock. We were going to the press conference when I spotted this look-a-like in a XXL Bermuda shirt. On closer inspection it was Dwayne. After Bermuda were knocked out, he rested his tweaking arm and has been holidaying around the islands which culminated in watching the World Cup Final.

Powar spinner

As ever, India are imminently back on the cricket scene. Their tour to Bangladesh early next month excludes a few big names but this blog is overjoyed with the inclusion of right-arm off-spinner Ramesh Powar.

The 28-year-old has been an on-off ODI player for three years now (24 wickets at 27 from 18 matches) without even a sniff in the Test arena. The image of Powar in India's light blue one-day kit, sporting trademark red shades to complete his rather portly figure has always left the Nutley running for the remote whenever he is playing. Perhaps he is the Test arena's answer to our man Dwayne Leverock.

He seems to have this ability of how the game should be played, too: a great fighter coupled with a smile or two after a ripping delivery. He also gives the ball good flight and it is refreshing for India to have an off-spinning talent in the making after years of left-arm slow bowlers and leggies.

Has he the potential to succeed at Test level?

Leverock weighs in

As The Nutley predicted last April, Dwayne Leverock made his big entrance during Bermuda's warm-up game against England on Monday.

A couple of wickets was enough to get the excited English press corps scrambling for information about the 19-stone policeman, while the Bermuda Sun's James Whittaker has his take on 'Sluggo's' effort.

Last April I witnessed the Legends Classic in Bermuda where Gus Logie's men took on the over-35's from England and New Zealand etc.

It was clear that Bermuda had someway to go but Leverock was one player who stood out as world-class player.

Already we have seen that the minnows look way short in the batting department and Logie must have been looking on in disbelief at the way his batsmen subsided on Monday.

Oh well, a couple of big knocks from one or two players is still possible in this World Cup.

Bermuda short fall?

Side-stepping the impending Ashes series for one moment, trouble looms on the lush island of Bermuda with the World Cup just months away now.

After Bermuda were soundly beaten 3-0 by Kenya in a recent ODI series, Cricinfo gave its verdict this week on Gus Logie's troops and it wasn't all that positive. In response, the Royal Gazette, the island's top newspaper, gave its impression of a "scathing written attack" by its managing editor, Martin Williamson.

It is anything but scathing in reality. The article actually gives nothing new away; namely that huge investment has gone into the national squad, rifts lie within the administration and the team has shown little improvement. There's truth also in Bermuda's heavyweight tag - and unfortunately that's not related to their cricketing skills.

Cricinfo suggests that certain players are carrying "excess baggage". One player who certainly carries weight is 19-stone Dwayne Leverock (above). The island policeman is Bermuda's main strike bowler and a pivotal figure in the squad. Full of character, he may not look international class but he often opens the bowling with his slow left-armers and turns in a degree of success at the same time. The rest of the squad looked in reasonable shape to me earlier this year, although it was hard to tell whether fitness to international standard was in place.

I saw the Bermudans when I covered the Legends Classic back in April and in the lead-up to the tournament there was criticism from newspaper columnists about Bermuda's participation in an over-35s tournament. The fact remains that the team needed matches under their belt, and after spending 10 days on the island and speaking to their players, I will certainly be rooting for Bermuda to perform during the World Cup and beyond. However there will always be its detractors when talk turns to how smaller ICC teams can cope at international level. With considerable investment behind them they will come under the microscope, especially as this will also be Bermuda's first foray into a World Cup.

Let's just hope they give the 64,000 population something to cheer about next March and not disappear out of the Caribbean faster than the Bermuda's Triangle myth.