Lionel Cann, the former Bermuda cricketer, dropped a bombshell yesterday when he declared that the Island will never again compete among the ICC Associate’s elite.

Cann’s remarks arrived amid the Bermuda Cricket Board’s probe into the senior national team’s poor showing at the Pepsi ICC World Cricket Division Three tournament in Malaysia where they were relegated.

“I can honestly tell you that Bermuda will never get back to being with the Associates in Division One,” Cann said.

“We will never get back there or qualify for the World Cup again unless it opens up to where it can be ten to twelve teams and then we might have a chance to compete.

“It’s not because we are not good enough, all the other countries have resources we don’t have.

“We can put millions of dollars into Bermuda cricket and we still won’t get back to that level.”

Cann believes that a limited pool of players also puts Bermuda at a disadvantage.

“The trouble is our rivals have so many different cricketers that are qualifying every day that have already played first-class cricket,” he added. “Even if we develop our youngsters you’re still going to need 30 of them to stay together for the next 15 years just to have a chance.

“Money is important but we just don’t have the resources like other countries and you also have players going to other countries who have played first-class cricket. Look at Holland, how many Dutch players play for them? How many players that play for the United Arab Emirates are from Pakistan?”

Cann added: “Cricket has not only got better, it’s just the way that the ICC has now structured it.

“In the 1980s there was only five or six teams at the Associate level that were good and Bermuda was one. But cricket has grown and the whole world is now competing.

“Cricket is global now and I’m sorry but we will never get back to the top.”