Americas Cup: Cayman Islands brothers to make history while Argentina sets itself goals

The Cayman Islands is likely to create a world record in its international debut at next month's inaugural Americas Cup by fielding four brothers in the one team.

Caymanian born Michael (the team captain), Chris, David and Phillip Wight are probable inclusions in the Islanders team when it joins national teams from Argentina, Bermuda, Canada and the United States in the first ever Americas championship from August 5-12.

It's a team coach Theo Cuffy says can still perform well despite being decimated by the ICC's nine citizens/two residents eligibility rule.

"We have a number of good players but it won't be reflective of Cayman Islands cricket. You can live here for 20 years and still cannot become a citizen so it has hurt us," Cuffy laments. "The boys are pretty excited to be going though."

Also pleased no doubt by the Caymans' participation, would be a team happy to concede its customary underdog tag, Argentina.

Guillermo Kirschbaum, captain of the South Americans, said his highly motivated squad was driven by several goals:

"We want to measure ourselves against other Americas countries, and also the ICC has to see that we are trying really hard to improve in Argentina and that we are serious about developing our cricket," Kirschbaum said.

"It will also show us what level we are at now and what we still need to do before the ICC Trophy next year. We want to return home proud of the way we have performed."

While the squad is relatively unchanged from the one which finished in 20th place in the 1997 ICC Trophy in Malaysia, Kirschbaum said the squad for Toronto is an improved outfit.

"I think its a better team than Malaysia, mostly because I think we are much better prepared. We´ve been working very hard, and we even have a physical trainer now, so our fitness levels are much better. We´ve even done things like getting in baseball people to help us with our throwing. So we`re much better prepared than ever before, I think, but part of that is that we understand good preparation doesn`t guarantee success. We have to do the job on the field."

So who are the keys to make this all happen?

"There are some individuals we might hope for big things from, but really the key to us playing well is operating as a team, the whole squad doing their jobs, and then maybe we can be effective. Matias Paterlini showed in Malaysia that he can bat, and obviously the experienced guys like myself, Donny Forrester, Hernan Pereyra and others have to perform by example, better than we have in previous international tournaments maybe."

Kirschbaum emphasised that whatever the result, discipline and consistency remain the goals.

"We know what we are capable of and have never really shown it because of a lack of both these things. Mike Proctor coached us recently, and what he told us was very important, that the team that makes the least mistakes will normally win."