BERMUDA'S current crop of Under-19 cricketers will go down in history as the first youth team to qualify for a World Cup, following their success in Toronto last weekend.

But the youngsters won't be the first Bermudians to play in the World Cup in this age group. That distinction belongs to Dean Minors and Kyle Lightbourne who were part of the ICC Associates team at the inaugural World Cup in 1988 in Australia.

Almost 20 years later the pair, now in their late 30s, still have fond memories of playing in a tournament alongside the likes of Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton and Chris Lewis (England), Chris Cairns (New Zealand), Mustaq Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) and Brian Lara, Ridley Jacobs and Jimmy Adams of the West Indies, all of whom went on to become established Test players.

The 2008 World Cup in Malaysia is bound to showcase some future Test stars and the experience will be an invaluable one for the Bermuda players, Minors and Lightbourne said this week. Minors holds the distinction of playing in a World Cup at junior and senior level, and Lightbourne might have achieved that also had football not become his sport of choice in the early 1990s when he pursued a professional career in England.

"People know my first love was football, but looking back I was probably a better cricketer than a footballer," said Lightbourne who played Cup Match for Somerset and for Bermuda as a talented left-arm fast bowler. He urges the young players to make the most of the experience.

"It is a great achievement for them and a lot can come out of it," said Lightbourne.

"It's a good time for sports in Bermuda and its up to the youngsters to take the opportunities and make something out of it.

"It is going to be an experience that they will probably never forget. They are going to learn something from the trip and will meet some players who in years to come will probably be some of the world's best players. Just take it in and enjoy it.

"People were saying Canada were the favourites but they showed they are capable. We have some really good youngsters at that age¿Rodney Trott, Malachi Jones and those two alone are outstanding. It is a good achievement."

Now, instead of an ICC Associates team, the World Cup involves six ICC associate countries as well as the 10 Test nations, which means more exposure for more players which is the aim of the ICC in their development programme.

"One of the reasons the ICC put a (Associates) team together (in 1988) was because all the non-Test playing nations weren't up to standard," said Lightbourne.

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