Vexed Bermoothes

Your tax dollars at work:  despite a $11 million dollar investment in international cricket, the Bermuda team has failed to retain their ODI status at the ICC World Cup Qualifiers.

They don’t seem to have made many friends either based on this commentary from Cricinfo.  It seems to be a good metaphor for Bermuda’s governance as a whole:

In fairness to Bermuda, they were a very small country punching above their weight. But great things were expected from the team when they made it to the big time. The local media went overboard at the prospect of Bermuda taking part in the Caribbean’s World Cup in 2007, and the government pledged millions of dollars to help build up the national side.

But almost immediately, things started to go wrong. Players treated the qualification as a destination rather than a launching pad into the big time. Stories began to circulate about poor discipline and a lack of fitness.

The board repeatedly clashed with its own players, often operated behind closed doors, and at the World Cup many of its members seemed preoccupied with ensuring they got tickets and hospitality rather than worrying about what was happening on the field.

The board is likely to implode in a sea of recrimination, and heads simply have to roll for allowing such a shambles to rumble on for so long when the warning signs were so clear to see

There were glimmers of hope in the last year, but they were too little and far too late. When they lost to Afghanistan, a result that almost sealed their fate, one senior player, rather than vowing to battle on and bounce back, shrugged and simply said: “Hey man, these things happen.”

Given how they royally blew it when they had a chance, it is hard to envisage Bermuda bouncing back. The board is likely to implode in a sea of recrimination, and heads simply have to roll for allowing such a shambles to rumble on for so long when the warning signs were so clear to see…

And so Bermuda head home, and few will miss them. If proof were needed that money was not the be-all and end-all, then here is a wonderful example.

As if that didn’t sting enough, there’s more scorn here.

And even more here.  Feel the love, baby.