Bermuda is well equipped to host next year’s Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 3 Tournament.So says ICC Global Development manager Tim Anderson who was in Bermuda recently for a brief visit during which he met with Sports Minister Glenn Blakeney to discuss Bermuda’s plans to host the six-team tournament which is the first step in World Cup qualification beginning in 2014.During his two-day visit, Anderson also stopped briefly at the Eastern Counties match between Bailey’s Bay and St. David’s, prior to flying to New York to meet with ESPN officials to discuss television coverage of the ICC World Twenty20 Tournamnent in Sri Lanka next month.“It was great to come to Bermuda, I have a very good working relationship with Neil Speight in his role as the Chairman of the ICC Associate and Affiliate members so Neil and I talk to or e-mail each other every other day as he has a very important role not just in Bermuda but the wider community of developing cricket countries,” said Anderson who was encouraged to make a stop in Bermuda with the ICC World Twenty20 Trophy on his way to New York.“With the World Cricket League Tournament happening in Bermuda that was a good opportunity to come across and have a look at the venues and hotels, etc.”On his way to the airport Anderson was able to stop at Sea Breeze Oval to watch some of the Eastern Counties match and though there was a rain stoppage, the ICC official did enjoy the atmosphere.“The Eastern Counties fixture was a unique experience for me, I have never experienced such enthusiasm in a developing part of the cricket world for what is essentially club cricket. I loved the experience and having the chance to walk around the ground. It took us an hour to get around the ground because everybody wanted to talk about cricket. The point was to soak in the atmosphere and understand what a fixture like that meant to everybody.”He added: “The sports minister is passionate about cricket and that was really refreshing for me to see. We spoke to him for quite a long time and he obviously has a keen interest and is very knowledgeable about the game and wants to see it develop and grow. The main point of the conversation was the World Cricket League Division 3 and how that event can be run successfully in Bermuda and how the government and Bermuda as a country can leverage off that event and ways that cricket can leverage off Bermuda itself.“We think there are some mutual interests there and obviously there is some work to be done around that. The other topic we talked about was the facilities and ways the ICC can assist Bermuda with expertise in and around facility development, both in terms of the National Stadium and also some of the club grounds as well.”Three grounds are likely to be used for next year’s matches, the National Sports Centre and two club grounds.“The structure of the World Cricket League is that we tend to use three facilities so the challenges we have is to determine which three facilities we will use and we will be going through the process with the Bermuda Cricket Board to determine that,” said Anderson.”The Bermuda Cricket Board is one of the most well run cricket boards that we have. Obviously Bermuda has challenges in terms of the size of the population but we see Bermuda punching above their weight on the international stage on a regular basis, doing well in Division 3 and possibly going up to the next level.”Bermuda is one of 106 Member countries of the International Cricket Council, including 10 Full (Test playing) Members, 36 Associate Members (of which Bermuda is one) and 60 Affiliate Members. The Pepsi ICC Development Programme is tasked with “building a bigger, better global game by assisting the 96 Associate and Affillate Members to grow and improve the standard of cricket within their territories”.The Development Programme was launched in 1997 and the amount of cricket being played in Associate and Affiliate countries has increased five-fold over the last 10 years to the point where there are approximately 750,000 male and female participants involved in formal cricket programmes outside the Full Member countries. The ICC has set an ambitious strategic target of more than doubling the number to over 1.5 million participants by 2015.“We obviously have a strong international competition programme for men, women and juniors in 50 overs and 20 overs,” said Anderson. “However the feeling is because we have been very focused on making that structure very strong, there hasn’t been quite enough focus on the grassroots level. So we are ensuring our members are keenly focused on increasing participation numbers, because if you don’t have a strong base of participation then it is difficult to have a strong national team.”The Development Programme has a dedicated High Performance Programme that assists the top Associate and Affiliate countries to improve both their on and off field performances. Recent successes have been Ireland and Afghanistan who have qualified for the World Twenty20 Tournament. However, other so-called lesser known countries are also starting to make great strides in cricket.”Ireland and Afghanistan are probably the two teams that are shining at the moment and we will see them competing in the World Twenty20 next month so there is a real focus on trying to improve those countries,” said Anderson, who noted there is also a great effort to increase the television coverage of cricket around the world.“The World Twenty20 will also be shown live in the USA on ESPN which is a big deal for cricket to have ESPN broadcasting the sport. We’re trying to push the sport into new territories, getting on television or online.”