The countdown to the next cricket World Cup in Asia in 2011 has begun with Bermuda's national coach Gus Logie and cricket board chief executive Neil Speight travelling to London for a meeting of Associate members.

Topics discussed by the six high performance Associate member countries (Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland) during the four-day planning forum ranged from ways of teaching players how to cope with the physical and mental strains of cricket in south Asia, devising a competitive match schedule, and providing training camps at the ICC Global Cricket Academy.

Under the title 'Project Sub-Continent', the ICC will focus on providing Bermuda and other Associates with enough assistance so that they can be competitive at the World Cup should they win one of the four available spots at the qualifying tournament in South Africa in April.

The qualifiers will involve 12 teams from Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Scotland, Canada, Bermuda, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Namibia, Denmark and two nations from the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division Three event, which will take place in Buenos Aires from January 24-31, 2009.

And the four that do make it through to the main event will look to emulate Ireland, who pulled off a shock win over Pakistan at the last tournament in the West Indies.

"We all remember the exploits of Ireland during the last Cricket World Cup. That has shown what can be done and we want to ensure that the four Associates that qualify for the next one are just as competitive," said ICC High Performance Manager Richard Done, who organised the forum.

"It doesn't happen by accident. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication but thankfully those are attributes these teams have in abundance.

"The idea of 'Project Sub-Continent' is to develop a plan to ensure the Associate players that are at the CWC 2011 have gained the knowledge and experience to perform in those conditions," said Done.

"This would include an emphasis on batters getting practical match experience on those sorts of pitches, with an emphasis on playing spin but also how quicker bowling differs in sub-continental conditions."

"This will also link up with the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai with teams being sent on skill camps on the way to spending quality time in the sub-continent," he added.

As part of the plans, the ICC are also drafting a schedule of Associate cricket for 2009-10 to include ICC Intercontinental Cup fixtures as well as ODIs against other Associates and also Full Member opposition.

Bermuda, meanwhile, have begun putting their own plans in place. They will tour Trinidad and St Lucia in January, and once the dates for the World Cup qualifying tournament are announced will plan on arriving in South Africa ten days early in a bid to acclimatise to the conditions there.