Winning the recent Under-19 Americas Championship could have guaranteed Bermuda a place in cricket's World Cup in New Zealand next January, but there remains a strong possibility that as many as six local players could still get to play in the tournament.

If the original plan is not changed, Canada will be the sole representatives from this region as a result of their victory here last week, but a proposal currently being studied by the International Cricket Council (ICC) could pave the way for a combined squad being chosen instead.

"We are keeping our fingers crossed in hope that the proposal is accepted because it would be nice to send a strong team there," said El James, Bermuda Cricket Board of Control president.

"At this particular time there is only one team going and that's the winning team of the tournament and that's the way it was planned. But the proposal to send a combined squad went through last April from the Americas requesting that a combined team be sent to the World Cup and the thought is that it will be accepted.

"But if it's not, then we can't do anything more about it. That's why it was important for us to win the tournament. By winning it outright we would have either had the opportunity that Canada now has or we would be in the position we are in now, hoping that a combined team is sent and have as many of our players chosen as possible."

Should ICC be persuaded to accept a combined squad, James said he had no idea how many Bermuda players would eventually be chosen. But he was optimistic that the Island would have more than most of the other affiliates based on the strong individual performances of the local players last week.

"It's really hard to say, but I reckon there could be six or seven chosen from here, it depends on the selection committee and the coaches involved," said James. "But I imagine there would be quite a few players."

Bermuda were invited to be a part of a Regional Combined squad in the previous World Cup campaign last January when four players were chosen _ Steven Outerbridge, Chris Foggo, O.J.Pitcher and Landro Minors with former BCBC administrator Michael Glasford appointed team manager.

On that occasion an equal number of players were chosen from each member of the Americas, but this time around the selection process will be different.

"If all works out the intention this time would be to send the strongest possible team which could mean that some of the teams will not be represented at all," said James.

Meanwhile, Bermuda's Red Stripe Bowl hopes appear to be vanishing with James confirming that the top two teams from the recent ICC Trophy tournament in Toronto - Canada and the US - will almost certainly be the only representatives from the region.

West Indies Cricket officials earlier in the year did hint that a new structure could be put into place by which only the two top finishers in the ICC tournament would be invited, and they also advised James at the time that there could be a registration fee from associated countries of about $50,000.

But the BCBC chief informed them at the time that if that was the case then Bermuda would not be interested in forking out that kind of money whether they finished in the top two or not.

"I am not too disappointed about it, it was expensive. We spend about $35,000 to go to the Caribbean to participate in the Red Stripe and now if you are going to spend another $50,000, we are being asked to pay $85,000 when you include travelling expenses," said James. "There is no way we can justify that as great development . . . that's not value for our money.

"For that amount of money we can do a lot more here that is going to aid our development programmes, so we are not totally disappointed if we will not be entering the Red Stripe Bowl. But we don't know if that is final or not, we are just waiting to see what happens."

Many of the senior players returned from the ICC Tournament last month prepared to continue training for the Red Stripe. Now it appears as though the national team will not be active until the new regional tournament scheduled for Argentina next March.

Picture:

Out for a duck: Chris Foggo looks behind to see his stumps shattered by a delivery from Nathan Richards of Canada in the recent Under-19 Americas Championship. Foggo and several other youth players could be invited to play in a combined Americas team in the World Cup.