Good day for Bermuda cricket: Romaine

Port-of-Spain, Mar 15 (UNI) Bermuda captain Irving Romaine today said playing their first World Cup match against Sri Lanka was a great day for cricket in his country.

''It was a good day for Bermuda Cricket,'' Romaine told mediapersons after his team lost by a huge 243-run margin to Sri Lanka.

''It does not matter, though we lost but cricket got a huge boost in my country.'' Asked what the positives from this game were for his team, Romaine said: ''We did well in eth field, fought well and took some great catches. But we also dropped the skipper on 0 and he made us pay as he is a world class player. We cannot afford to drop catches and we did let a few go down.

''Also, Lasith Malinga took us by surprise. We are not used to playing such pace as we do not have the experience to play at this level.'' Romaine admitted that the reality of his playing in a World Cup match hit him when he lost the toss.

''We need our top order to score more runs if we have to make a mark in this tournament.'' Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene was lavish in his praise of Bermuda bowlers saying, ''they have good new ball bowlers. They bowled very well taking advantage of the morning condition.'' ''Bermuda slow bowlers also bowled tight and we found it difficult to push them for runs,'' Mahela said.

And added: ''Let me tell you, we never took Bermuda lightly. We were never complacent.

''It is a World Cup and to start the campaign with a win is always good. We have been here for last two and half week and now this is a good start. It is good to be in action and play. We enjoyed the outing.'' Asked if it was good to have a team that did not stretch them, Jayawardene replied: ''We never stretched the West Indies back in 1975 and were thrashed. But we came back in 1996 to win the World Cup.'' About Sanath Jayasuriya's finger injury, the Sri Lanka skipper said: ''He did get hit but it is not too bad. We did want to take any risk or chances which is why I did not ask him to bowl.'' On their next opponents, Bangladesh, he said that the team had grown.

''They have developed themselves. They are playing a lot of cricket these days and are tough opponents. In any case, it makes no difference as to whom we play when. This is the World Cup and we are looking for a challenge.'' UNI HSB DH PM0246