Cricket in Bermuda is facing an uncertain future after Bermuda Cricket Board had their funding slashed to next to nothing in the Budget.The $1m grant the BCB previously received has been cut by $800,000 to just $200,000 by the Department of Youth and Sport.Football’s money has also been cut, although by far less, with a drop of $250,000 leaving them with $750,000 for the year. Still, the loss is likely to impact the Bermuda Football Association’s backing of certain tournaments, specifically the Clyde Best Invitational.While this year’s competition is expected to go ahead, there is already doubt within the BFA about the games in the future.The Island’s two national sports are likely to get some help from Government, however, with Sports Minister Glenn Blakeney saying yesterday that his ministry would ‘work with these two national sports governing bodies to assist them as best we can in other ways, notwithstanding the reduced budget allocation’.Bermuda’s elite athletes will likewise feel the pinch, the assistance programme that provides support for many was chopped in half, with the total amount available falling to $100,000.“I don’t want to comment because I haven’t been officially informed,” said Bermuda Olympic Association president Judy Simons, “but if that is the case then it’s a huge blow to elite athletics on the Island.”One sport that had hoped to benefit from this year’s grants, but has again been left with very little is Bermuda Sailing/Yachting Association. Before the budget there had been talk sailing might be reclassified as a national sport, that now looks unlikely to happen and their grant has remained the same at $25,000.The cuts come after the Department of Youth and Sport had $1m trimmed from it’s budget, dropping from $12.5m to $11.5m. It wasn’t clear yesterday how other sports had been effected.It is cricket though that has been struck the greatest blow, and with a tour to Dubai in April, a planned elite league, not to mention several other development programmes, the likelihood is that the way the game is run will have to change dramatically.Even taking into account the money that the BCB have in reserve, which is believed to be approximately $300,000, they are still looking at a shortfall of roughly $700,000 when their outgoing expenses from past years are taken into account.The BCB have declined to comment publically until chief executive Neil Speight returns to the Island from Dubai on Monday, although several members of the executive said they were stunned by the news.“What are you supposed to do with that?” said one member who asked not to be named, “that doesn’t even cover the salaries.”According to the BCB’s 2009 end of year financial statement the amount the Board paid in wages, salaries and benefits totalled some $637,854. While that has probably changed slightly over the past year or so, it is unlikely to have been by a significant amount.Ironically the changes that the Board had made to the way cricket was run on the Island seemed to be about to pay dividends. A new national academy is in the works, an elite league to improve the domestic game was being considered, and women’s cricket was back on the agenda.All these programmes are now under threat, although things might be easier if Government assists by waiving the rent they charge for using the National Sports Centre.At the moment the National Stadium Trustees charge the BCB in the region of $1,200 a day for the use of the field, last year that cost them nearly $20,000 for match days alone. A similar charge would make the elite league simply untenable, and given that the Trustees had their grant cut from $400,000 to $350,000 yesterday, that option seems unlikely.