ELEVEN million dollars!

If that figure didn?t turn a few a heads yesterday, it?s difficult to understand what might.

While successive Governments in this country have long come under fire for not offering enough financial support to our national sports, that accusation has now been firmly laid to rest.

To those not interested in cricket, and even some of those who are, the whopping contribution of tax-payers? money pledged to our World Cup-bound national team and the sport in general, might seem excessive.

Yet the potential rewards are enormous.

With that kind of cash behind them, the team have been given a fighting chance to do much more than make up the numbers at the 2007 World Cup.

Of course, they won?t win it, they won?t even come close, but with the proper preparation that Government?s financial assistance will now allow, they can give a very good account of themselves and lay a solid platform for the years to come.

What the extra money will do is give every aspiring young cricketer the incentive to take their game to the highest level, and it will no doubt inspire every other sportsmen and sportswomen, particularly those in soccer, with the knowledge that if they can replicate what the cricketers have achieved this summer, similar rewards might come their way.

Money?s no guarantee for success.

But without it, the guarantee is failure.

AHEAD of the Bermuda team?s trip to Namibia next week but before yesterday?s cash windfall, two headlines in Wednesday?s newspapers couldn?t have contrasted more sharply.

In the Bermuda Sun, Sports Minister Dale Butler told readers ?There?s no reason why we can?t move towards Test status.?

In this newspaper, national coach Gus Logie warned against ?Kenya complacency?, pointing out as Bermuda prepare for their ICC Intercontinental Cup match against the African side that his team should still be considered ?the babies? of international cricket.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with setting lofty goals. And as wildly optimistic as the suggestion may sound, Bermuda?s players would like to believe that there might yet come a day when they can compete with the big guns of Test cricket.

But it isn?t going to be anytime soon. And despite what the side have achieved over the past summer, Logie?s quite right in keeping his players? feet firmly on solid ground.

Let?s not forget, for all their accomplishments, Bermuda qualified for the 2007 World Cup in fourth place behind Scotland, Ireland and Canada and then won the regional Intercontinental competition by beating a weakened Canadian side and the Cayman Islands.

Tendulkar, Lara, Langer, Flintoff and company won?t be shaking in their boots at the prospect of meeting our boys just over a year down the road.

That said, there is reason for confidence in the local camp; they have, after all, gone where no other Island team has gone before, and as has been noted repeatedly, there?s a wonderful spirit under Logie?s command that has fostered unprecedented self belief.

Bermuda shouldn?t head into their cup semi-final against Kenya next week in anything but a confident mood.

But there?s a fine line between confidence and over-confidence, and for all the troubles endured by Kenyan cricket in the last year or two, it can?t be forgotten the huge strides they?ve made on the international stage in a relatively short time.

It wasn?t that many years ago that Bermuda would have considered a country such as Kenya easy pickings.

But that was before the Africans qualified for the World Cup, inflicted a humiliating defeat on the West Indies and proceeded to notch some impressive one-day scalps.

In terms of international experience, Bermuda will still be considered the underdogs when play gets underway in Namibia.

Much like our team, the Kenyans will be using this month?s matches as a stepping stone towards the 2007 World Cup and will be eager to reestablish their reputation as the strongest of the non-Test playing nations.

If Logie?s men can put another dent in that reputation, so much the better. But it?s going to take a Herculean effort to do so.

Perhaps more important than the result, though, is the experience Bermuda will gain playing on foreign soil. Until qualifying for the World Cup, such opportunities were few and far between.

Now it seems, with financial backing from both the ICC and Government, trips overseas are going to be flowing thick and fast.

And who knows, in a couple of years? time maybe Butler?s dream of Test cricket won?t sound as far fetched as it does now!