Tuesday, March 9, 2010

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Bahamas drops game but wins tournament By Kelsie Johnson~ NG Sports Reporter ~ kelsie@nasguard.com: Playing in probably their biggest test in recent times, The Bahamas men's cricket team was able to secure a spot in the World League Division VIII. Although they were not able to defeat rivals Suriname on Saturday, at the Pepsi International Cricket Council (ICC) Americas Region Division II Tournament, The Bahamas still snagged the tournament win. Team Bahamas, which only scored 185 overs against Suriname, won based on the net run-rate. The win also qualified Team Bahamas for the Division I tournament in Bermuda, at the end of May. Even though president of the Bahamas Cricket Association (BCA) Greg Taylor was pleased with the team's feat, he was disappointed in the way the final match was played. "We still won the tournament," he confirmed. "The Bahamas batted first, scoring 186 runs on 35 overs. Suriname got the 186 in the 34 over. The game was very competitive, but our players made a lot of mistakes on the field. They just were not fielding properly. "They allowed about six or eight balls to go over the boundary for four runs. So that is what brought Suriname back into the game. At one point, we had them down, where they needed nine runs and over. That is a lot to do but because of our mistakes they were able to beat us." This is the second time Suriname defeated The Bahamas. The first encounter was in 2008 at a regional tournament. The loss to Suriname eliminated The Bahamas from the division play. Since Suriname won the team automatically received a bid for the final division recently added to the World League. A confident Taylor knows that The Bahamas and Suriname will meet each other again. When that time comes, Taylor said that the team will be more than ready. He believes the team will better prepare themselves mentally and physically for the challenges ahead. He added: "We played in Division I about three times before. We know that division has a lot of talent. It includes countries like Canada, USA, Bermuda, Cayman and Argentina. When we played in that division we were very competitive against Cayman and Argentina. We lost the games because of little mental mistakes. "So other than playing, we need to really sit down and think about what we are going to do when we play. Getting there is one thing, we need players mentally prepared and thinking about cricket. Going in with a game plan and not just turning up to play. We need to get all of those things in place before we can even go to Division I in the Americas." Even though there were some mental lapses, Taylor said improvements were seen at the week-long tournament. He believes that the team has matured and is now able to rally back from deficits. The ability to rebound will come from more play Taylor said and now that they are in this new division more opportunities will be awarded to them. He said: "It will generate more play for the team because in the World League you can end up playing in a tournament every year, trying to move up the ladder. We have hopes of reaching Division I, but we know that it is a long and hard process. At least we will have a chance to do it." The tournament included teams from Panama, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Brazil. Monday February 08, 2010