CRICKET among the ICC Associate Members has become a game whereby many sides are using "mercenaries".

And that is hurting Bermuda where nearly all the senior national players have come up through the junior programme with the possible exception of Bermuda-born English professional David Hemp.

Arnold Manders, the development director of the Bermuda Cricket Board, has been angered over the years at seeing Bermuda taking on other national sides who use players from all over the world – particularly players from the subcontinent and the West Indies who couldn't manage to get into their own national team.

The latest evidence of countries using "mercenaries" or "ringers" came last week at the Americas Championship in Florida which was won by the United States.

And Manders is not the only one upset about the number of foreign players turning out for other national sides.

Last month Scotland's Paul Hoffmann called for a limit on the number of foreign players infiltrating Associate cricket.

Ironically Hoffmann was born in Australia but went on to play for Scotland on 119 occasions. But even he realises that there could be severe consequences of Associate teams bolstering their ranks with mainly foreign players who are not good enough to play for their country of birth but manage to get into teams like the USA, Canada and Ireland.

Hoffmann said he fears young players could be lost to the sport if they see their national side dominated by overseas players.

"If a rule is not introduced soon we could be heading down the same road as English county teams who beef up their squads with Kolpak players," he said.

The USA team which beat Bermuda on the way to taking the Americas crown is full of players from overseas.

And the John Aaron, the secretary of the United States of America Cricket Association, acknowledged this week that they will soon have to start bringing along their younger players.

He told the Mid-Ocean News: "Not to belittle what the current guys accomplished (by winning the Americas) but we want to build on the youth. To go 5-0 (in Florida) shows they are competitive in the region and maybe outside the region as well. But I think that is only a short-term fix. I like to look at the long term and that is trying to develop youth cricket. We want to see more home-grown players but we don't have as many as would like to have. But we do have a nucleus of players born here and also we have kids who came here (at a very young age) who we would like to build around."

Manders said of watching all the foreign players turning out for the likes of the USA and Canada: "We are tired of it. Some of the players in the US and Canada could not get back into the country if they went abroad. What does that say? It is frustrating for countries like us. I know Scotland also complained about all the foreign players playing for Associate countries. These players are leaving their own countries because they can't make it there and are then going elsewhere. Ireland have six people from South Africa and other nationalities. I know that some countries want the rules changed so that Associate countries can only have two non-national players. I think it is something that needs to be addressed.

"Everyone wants to play in the World Cup and if they can't make their own country's team they then run all over the place and the other countries are just taking them. The UAE started it all. They had Pakistanis and Indians in their team one year and won the ICC and went to the World Cup. Now it seems nearly everyone is doing it.

"These countries are bringing in ringers – they are professionals – I call them mercenaries, they are hired guns. That is all they are. And some Associate countries are picking up more and more – especially Denmark and Holland. All these guys are selling their birthrights.

"They have to start doing something about it. Especially when the ICC say they want the Associates to start improving the game with developmental programmes. What kind of development are you going to get when you just take foreigners and put them in your team? If anything it will kill cricket right off in those countries."

Manders said that officials in the ICC don't want to do much about the situation because those Associate members that are using foreigners object to the governing body interfering with the game. "They say they (ICC) cannot tell them who to play or who not to play. It is a major concern for us and some others. It is not helping the development of the game in these countries because all they are doing is bringing in foreigners. I know they (ICC) talk highly about Bermuda because we seem to be the only Associate country where they can see the players moving through the juniors ranks into the national (senior) team.

"I know our cricket will get better but will the cricket in those other countries get better? We have the youth infrastructure here. But how are we going to compete with those countries that bring in Indians, Pakistanis, South Africans, West Indians, Australians. I think it is amazing what we do with what we have got – and everyone wants to pick on us saying we can't win a frigging game!"

But Manders is not blaming Bermuda's failure of retaining the Americas title on the importation of foreign players for the likes of the USA.

Manders said: "We could have beaten the US in Florida. But the US had already played a few matches (in the WICB Cup) and we had guys coming from England, Australia and Bermuda.

"I know we can compete. It is just a matter of getting the strongest team on the field and playing from the first ball to the last ball."

USACA secretary Aaron, who is originally from Guyana, said that winning the Americas Championship gave cricket in the US a badly needed boost.

In recent years cricket in the US has suffered – especially from the infighting which many believe is still going on.

The US were admitted as an Associate Member of the ICC in 1965 and they participated in the ICC Trophy from the first tournament in 1979 and from the mid 1980s the side's performances steadily improved. This was, however, largely due to the increase in expats from the Caribbean and the subcontinent rather than products from American-born players. It was an issue that became an increasing concern as the side pressed for more international recognition.

Four years ago the USA qualified for the ICC Champions Trophy courtesy of an unexpected win in the Six Nations event, but their participation was a poor advertisement, and an ageing and limited side were never competitive.

Behind the scenes, the USA Cricket Association had become a deeply divided group, and in 2005 it was suspended from the ICC for being "dysfunctional" and barred from official tournaments. Although that ban was subsequently lifted, the internal sniping has seemingly continued.

Aaron said that the USACA wants to now build on the success of the Americas victory in Florida.

"We have to build on this. Although the team won convincingly, if you look at the ages of the guys in the team it is not what we would like to build upon long term. Short term yes. Long term we want to build on the younger guys and go forward with a younger set of legs. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to involve many of the youngsters (in the Americas) as we would have liked to."

And while Aaron said he wants more younger players who have either been born in the US or have arrived in the country at a young age, he said it will not be the easiest thing to accomplish.

"Because the US is such a vast country it is hard to wrap your hands around a national programme. We are trying to develop programmes within the regions and from that we would get a national team once we have a coach that can travel and inspect those players.

"But I would hate to put as a benchmark that all our players must be born in the US because you cannot discount those kids who come into the United States and become permanent residents – I would hate to discount them. Ideally we would like to get kids who have been here at ages eight, nine, 10 or 11 – in their formative years when you can really develop their cricket."

While Aaron said ideally he would want the US team to be composed of players born in the US or who came to the US as kids, he added: "Cricket is a fragile sport in the US as it is and we can't pick and choose.

"We have seen players in soccer and ice hockey come here (and represent the country quickly). We can't say we don't want to do that. But we would eventually like to see the people representing the nation to be truly representative of that nation.

"If we can get kids interested in cricket at a grassroot level – junior high and high school – then we would be able to build. Hopefully we can generate enough interest in high schools so that cricket can compete with the other lesser known sports like lacrosse. And we may even be able to get local American kids who may not be into soccer, football, basketball or baseball interested in cricket but we need momentum. It is not going to happen overnight but I do think the process can be accelerated by the 20/20 format of the game.

"20/20 will be more popular in America – in fact it is making inroads even in the traditional Test-playing countries. In America it would be more acceptable than the five-day format."

Noting that Americans have a short attention span when it comes to sport, Aaron said they would find it hard to deal with a game that "goes for five days and no one wins – that is not for them. They will say 'I am wasting my time'. Americans are results orientated."

Meanwhile cricket officials in Canada were also unhappy about not winning the Americas title in Florida last week.

Cricket Canada chief Atul Ahuja told the Toronto Star this week that he was disappointed with the team's performance.

"No other team had the kind of experience going into this tournament that Canada had. We made sure our guys got to play Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the West Indies and Zimbabwe this summer. The Americans didn't have that luxury and so credit goes to them for beating us and Bermuda."

Ahuja singled out the batting as the weakness for the team's performance.

"It's the batting. We're not getting the runs out of the top order that we expect. We may need to bring in a specialist batting coach."

Toronto Star cricket writer Faraz Sarwat wrote this week: "A specialist batting coach is well and good, but Cricket Canada needs to coldly examine what its first choice team is. Although John Davison has not been a part of the squad for a while, Ahuja has always denied that the all-rounder is out of reckoning and in fact insists that he's part of Canada's best line-up. But issues with the former captain remain. Given Davison's age (38) and perceived lack of commitment to Canada, the expense of flying him in from Australia has lately seemed unjustified. There may be hurt feelings on both sides, but if Canada does not want to jeopardize its place in the next World Cup, fences with Davison will need to be mended.

"Canada's cricket team has been humiliated in Guyana and Florida, with its status as one of the top ICC Associates consistently undermined. Serious thought needs to be put into the composition of the team, with not just players, but coaches and selectors being accountable too. With World Cup Qualifiers four months away the time for complacency, if there ever was such a time, is well and truly over."