da premier bet： Welcome to Bermuda, Mark Harper
Matt Westcott01-Feb-2002Welcome to Bermuda, Mark Harper. We have an international cricket tournamenton the horizon, a national squad whose No 1 batsman refuses to train, andthree candidates for the captaincy who are a mistimed tackle away from beingsidelined indefinitely.Bermuda are supposed to be one of the favourites for the Americas Cup, whichwill be staged in Argentina from March 9 to 16, but on present evidence – anemergency meeting was held a fortnight ago to investigate the poor responseto training – a repeat of the disaster that resulted in an early exit fromthe ICC Trophy Tournament last summer is on the cards.Harper, brought in from Guyana after the tenure of Roland Butcher ended inembarrassing fashion, is a frustrated man these days. Is he at the brink?No. But frustrated, yes.”Most of the guys said they could (train) on a Saturday, just a few saidthey could not,” Harper said this week of the meeting. “Since then we’ve hadmaybe a slight improvement, but nothing much to shout about.”The serious issue in the Island right now is whether some of these peopleare interested in playing for the country. It is frustrating but this hasbeen the trend in recent times with the preparation of the team, so I’vebeen told, and I also experienced that leading into the ICC tournament.”With Argentina in the midst of their domestic season and Canada and UnitedStates having outperformed Bermuda in Toronto last July, it is not beyondbelief that Harper’s men could finish in the middle of a six-team pack.”I don’t know if the guys just feel that they can turn up two weeks beforeand think that everything will be all right at the tournament,” Harperadded. “That was the feeling pertaining to the ICC tournament but I believethat if you don’t prepare, be prepared to fail.”It is disappointing but I always try to look on the positive side. We havea month to go and hopefully we’ll have better numbers turning out topractice so we can really prepare properly for this tournament. I think wehave a chance of doing well if we put our heads down and prepare properly.”Central to the problems that Harper is experiencing is the lack ofcommitment from leading players, the most significant being Glenn Blakeney,of St. David’s.After shattering the individual scoring record against Willow Cuts in aleague match on August 19, Blakeney declared that he was committed torepresenting the country for the first time since the ill-fated ICC TrophyTournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1997. “My main goal now is torepresent Bermuda again in the next ICC and hopefully in the World Cup,”Blakeney told The Royal Gazette in the August 20 edition. “I think it’s upto me, I’ve just got to take it more seriously. I’ve had a meeting with ElJames and he told me he wants me to be part of the national team. I waspleased about that because we’ve had our differences in the past, but thecountry is the most important thing and the country should come first.”The left-handed early-order bat was promptly named in the training squad inOctober for the upcoming venture but, according to Harper, has not attendedany of the eight sessions to date and can have no complaints if he gets thechop when the selectors finalise the travelling party for Argentina in thecoming weeks.”Nobody has been axed as yet,” Harper said. “We’re coming into February sosomewhere along the line we would have to cut down the squad. The point isthat people have to understand that there is no sense in having someone whohas a lot of ability but is not committed to the effort.”In anything in life you have rules and regulations and people have tocomply with that. There seems to be a disregard for that on the island here.People seem to think that because `Mark’ is good or `Tom’ is good, that hemust just walk in the door and play.”If Blakeney has a problem and would like to discuss it I would certainly bewilling to sit down and listen to him. But I am not aware of anything and hewas at the meeting (on January 10)! The indication was that he would be outto training soon and even one of the selectors indicated that he would beout to training on Saturday. But I don’t know what happened.”It is not a right to play for your country, it’s a privilege. They have farmore talented players in other places who can’t represent their country. Thesad thing about it is that these guys (in Bermuda) have the ability to muchbetter than they’re doing. The World Cup is so close and they don’t realiseit.”Harper said that the lengthy debate over the captaincy has resulted from alacklustre attitude toward training. Herbie Bascome, Clay Smith, AlbertSteede and Janeiro Tucker are in the running to fill the post left vacantafter Charlie Marshall was omitted from the training [JUMP]squad.But the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control has been at such a loss to decideon the appointment that the four candidates will be interviewed.”The ideal situation would have been for the captain to be named a long timeago,” Harper admitted. “But the situation is that the Board feels that atthis juncture they should interview some players to see what they have andput over how they would expect that person to conduct themselves and lead. Ithink that issue will be addressed as soon as (El James, the BCBC president,and Charlotte Simons, the secretary) return from overseas, but some of theseguys who have been put forward as candidates have been absent from trainingas well.”The emotive issue of cricketers playing football so soon before aninternational commitment has Harper scratching his head also. And, what ismore, Bascome, Smith and Tucker are captaincy candidates, who have helpedtheir football teams to reach the FA Cup semi-finals.To give an impression what Harper has to contend with, Bascome is a leadingplayer for St. George’s but is on 37-year-old legs, Smith was kicked `blackand blue’ as recently as Sunday in North Village’s victory over DevonshireColts and Tucker, who began the season with Dandy Town injured, survived oneof the most physical games of the season against Somerset Trojans last week.”Somewhere along the line, if you’re going to represent your countrynationally, you must show some sort of commitment,” Harper said. “From mypoint of view, I would prefer them not to play football.”I would hope that Janeiro or any one of the cricketers who play footballare not injured, but you have to keep your fingers crossed when these guysplay football because they are very, very important members of the team.”