Preview of first day of Americas Cup

An otherwise confident Bermuda coach, Winston Reid, has cited the pitch as his team's only concern going into today's opening match of the inaugural Americas Cup tournament against Argentina at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club ground in Toronto, Canada.

"This is the first time we have played on the new turf pitch and we're not sure how it is going to play," Reid said. "If we win the toss we will send the opposition in."

The United States plays international debutantes, the Cayman Islands in the other match today. Canada has the bye.

The caretaker coach, 'minding' the team until a yet-to-be-named overseas import arrives in Bermuda next month, said his players were well prepared.

"The players are in great form as we have come straight from our season where they have had plenty of match practice."

The side includes Clay Smith, who scored a century against the Windward Islands in the West Indies domestic one-day competition in 1997.

Reid described Bermuda as a "youthful team capable of winning the tournament."

"We have quality batsmen in Smith and captain, Charlie Marshall, a good spinner and good all-rounders," Reid enthused.

The veteran of Bermuda's successful 1979, 1982 and 1986 ICC Trophy campaigns said the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control had worked hard in the past five years to restore the island's former status as one of the leading Associate countries.

"We have been undergoing a youth policy for the past five years - in the past we had no young players to bring in when we had guys retire."

He said Bermuda was extremely focussed and that would be reflected in its style of play.

"We will be very aggressive - running hard and throwing hard to cut threes down to twos, running hard ourselves between wickets to get that extra run."

Meanwhile, the United States side has undergone a transformation from the one which toured England and Wales recently.

Captain Raymond Denny, Nezam Hafeez, Zamin Amin, Niresh De Silva and Naseer Islam are the only players remaining from the squad which won matches against the Yorkshire Second XI, the MCC and Wales Minor Counties.

Canada's team includes Victorian Pura Milk Cup off-spinner, John Davison, who was born in British Columbia. He helped level the series for Canada against the visiting Dutch team last month, taking 4-9 off four overs. Canada plays its first game tomorrow against the United States.