The man responsible for the development of all Associate nations has admitted that teams like Bermuda must get more regular exposure to Test-class opposition if they are ever to be competitive against the world’s best sides.

But the International Cricket Council’s high performance manager Richard Done warned it would be difficult to persuade the likes of Australia, England and India to make room for extra matches against the minnows with the international fixture list already severely cramped.

Earlier this week, India captain Rahul Dravid opened the debate by saying that one of the only ways Bermuda could hope to give the big teams a better game was if they played against them more often.

Bermuda’s sole professional David Hemp echoed those sentiments on Wednesday, insisting it was unrealistic to expect the batsmen, in particular, to cope with the massive jump in standard when they hardly ever got the opportunity to face the high-quality bowling boasted by the best international teams.

The point was never clearer than when Irving Romaine’s men took on Sri Lanka and Lasith Malinga last week, when their shaggy-haired speedster with the famously slingy action bulldozed Bermuda’s top order — with Romaine admitting afterwards they just weren’t equipped to deal with that standard of bowling.

“I agree totally with what Dravid and Hemp are saying,” said Done, who is currently in St. Lucia but will be in Trinidad for Bermuda’s last World Cup game against Bangladesh on Sunday.

“We’ve increased the number of One-Day Internationals the Associate nations play, and Bermuda — more so than any other Associate I think — had the opportunity before the World Cup to play against Test nations in the shape of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

“But I agree that it’s an even bigger step up from playing them to taking on the likes of Sri Lanka and it’s an issue we are going to have to explore further when we commence what will be a thorough review of the Associate programme in the aftermath of the World Cup.

“It’s difficult though, because we’re well aware that the Test nations have very crowded fixture lists already and it could well be tough to persuade them to play more games against the top six Associate sides.

“The top sides are playing cricket all year round and there is a big undercurrent of opinion which says they are already playing too much.

“A solution we probably should look at is getting the likes of Bermuda to play more games against A sides from some of the bigger countries which are full of high-quality cricketers knocking on the door of their senior sides.

“That would definitely provide the Associates with a really challenging environment for them to learn and develop and it would just be a question of whether those games can be worked into the schedule.

“Another thing you’ve got to consider is that there has already been a big increase in the amount of cricket played by the Associates and whether it will be possible from a financial perspective to get them playing even more is something I cannot answer at this stage.

“Bermuda’s a slightly different case in that there are some further challenges given the size of the player pool. It’s fair to say that the larger your player pool, the easier it is going to be to ensure improvement with the necessary investment and infrastructure.

“Bermuda’s performances have not been as strong as all of us would have liked, but it is their first experience of World Cup competition and the idea is that they will learn from and be energised by the experience of playing at this level.

“But the number of games the Associates play against the Test nations I agree is something we at the ICC are going to have to look at. It’s absolutely true that the best way to progress is by taking on teams who are better than you.

“But in practice, it’s going to be very hard for us to get the Associates regular games against the top sides, which is why I believe pursuing the A-side route may well be our best option.”