if a proposal by the International Cricket Council (ICC) is adopted next year.

The ICC is recommending that Kenya and Bangladesh qualify automatically for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, which would raise the number of teams in the competition to 14.

Ali Bacher, chairman of ICC's development committee, said because the two countries had full One Day International (ODI) status it made no sense to take them through the qualifying rounds in Canada in 2001.

"There is terrific potential here and the very latest they can join full Test status is 2007 so it does not make sense to ask them to go to Toronto (Canada) for the ICC Trophy to qualify for the World Cup,'' Bacher said in Nairobi.

"By according them ODI status in 1997 the ICC recognised this potential. My committee strongly recommends they get automatic entry to the 2003 World Cup.'' Bacher is leading a 15-member ICC team to Nairobi to assess the game's facilities and infrastructure. A decision on whether Kenya and Bangladesh will get automatic entry will be made next June.

El James, president of the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control, said the developments were encouraging for Bermuda, who have been trying since 1979 to qualify for the World Cup.

"We're talking about five teams from the associate countries making it through to the next World Cup. We are ranked ninth, but the teams ahead of us are Bangladesh, Kenya, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Holland, Canada and Hong Kong.'' If the recommendations are accepted it would give Bermuda their best chance to qualify though, as Monday's loss to the Canadian Under-23s suggests, there is still plenty of work to be done for Bermuda. From one of the top teams in the ICC 20 years ago, Bermuda are no longer one of the tournament favourites.

"If five teams went through then it would be a cakewalk, but we can't look back,'' said James.

"We have a lot of work to do. I believe by looking forward we will gain a spot. We still have quite a few people knocking on the door.'' James, referring to the current tour of Canada, added: "Canada are in the ICC rankings based on the performances of the 1997 ICC Trophy competition.

"Bermuda is ranked ninth (among associate members) and Canada is ranked seventh. There will be a lot of folks saying `Canada is not a cricket nation, what does Canada know about cricket?' "Well they are ranked two higher than Bermuda, so those first two results are good for us. It shows either they have slipped a little bit or we have improved slightly.'' Canada has a large Asian population playing the game and some exciting youngsters are now breaking into the senior national team.

Just as Bermuda are in line to host a World Cup when the tournament is played in the West Indies in 2007, Bacher said recommendations had been made for Zimbabwe and Kenya to host some 2003 World Cup matches with South Africa.

"This will raise the profile of the game in these countries,'' he said.

Bacher said automatic qualification for Kenya and Bangladesh would see 14 teams, instead of 12, competing in 2003.

"The ICC Associate members can then fight for three World Cup positions at the ICC Trophy tournament in Toronto,'' said Bacher, chairman of the 2003 World Cup organising committee.

Kenya and Bangladesh failed to get past the opening stages of the World Cup earlier this year, although Bangladesh caused an upset by defeating eventual finalists Pakistan.