The trophy that will be presented to the winners of the ICC World Twenty20 Tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka on October 7 is on a surprise visit to Bermuda.Minister of Youth, Families and Sport, Glenn Blakeney, and Bermuda Cricket Board CEO Neil Speight, together with Tim Anderson, the International Cricket Council’s Global Development Manager, unveiled the 16-lb, 20 inch silver and rhodium trophy to local media at a press conference yesterday.The trophy is on an official pre-tournament tour which has already seen it travel to Sri Lanka, Australia, UK, Ireland, Malaysia, USA, Canada, India, UAE, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.Anderson was persuaded to stop in Bermuda for a couple of days on his way to New York this weekend to promote the tournament with ESPN which will provide coverage of the tournament to a local audience through CableVision.The tournament takes places from September 18 to October 7.“During such an exciting time for the global development of cricket it gives me great pleasure to have the opportunity to visit Bermuda with the ICC World Twenty20 trophy,” Anderson said.“Twenty20 provides an important vehicle for cricket to reach new audiences and encourage more people to participate in our great game. These are key objectives of the ICC strategic plan which aims to build a bigger, better global game.“Twelve teams will compete in the upcoming World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, however earlier this year the ICC board pleasingly expanded the next ICC World Twenty20 to be played in Bangladesh in 2014 to 16 teams.“It is important to acknowledge that in his role as a director of the ICC and chairman of the ICC Associate and Affiliate members, Bermuda Cricket Board CEO Neil Speight played a central role in this decision being made. Six Associate and Affiliate members will now compete in this truly global event in 2014 with qualifications set to commence in early 2013.“It is therefore an exciting time for cricket in Bermuda with qualification events for both the ICC World Twenty20 in 2014 and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015 set to take place over the next nine months.”He added: “With Bermuda being awarded the opportunity to host the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division Three Tournament as part of the qualification for the Cricket World Cup it adds significantly to this excitement. I am very happy to be able to bring the trophy to Bermuda, a country with a rich tradition and culture of cricket. The Bermuda Cricket Board has an excellent international reputation. Bermuda is the smallest country to qualify to the ICC World Cup and the ICC U19 World Cup.”Anderson, who will sample the flavour of the Eastern Counties on Saturday morning before flying to New York, is due to meet with the Minister to discuss Bermuda’s hosting of the next year’s World Cricket League Division Thee qualifying tournament.“The granting of this global qualifying event to Bermuda is a major achievement for the country, as opportunities to host these significant international competitions are scarce and are aggressively pursued by many nations,” said the Minister, noting that the last global event held in the Americas region was back in 2009.The Women’s World Twenty20 Tournament, featuring the top eight teams in the world, will be played in Sri Lanka as the same time, with the group stage matches taking place in Galle before the semi-finals and final are played as double-headers alongside the men’s event in Colombo, as has been the case with the last two ICC World Twenty20 events.Terry Roberson, General Manager of Bermuda CableVision stated: “Clearly Bermuda is a nation of cricket lovers with a two-day public holiday devoted to the game. We are therefore delighted to be teaming up with ESPN to bring coverage of the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 to the Island to continue the passion and excitement experienced during the annual Cup Match Classic.”