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Richard Done, the International Cricket Council's High Performance manager, was in Bermuda last week for a World Cup post mortem with the island's cricket officials.

Done talked to BCB chief exec Neil Speight, coach Gus Logie, skipper Irving Romaine about the way forward for Bermuda.

We talked to Done about the future of cricket outside the Test world.

With the World Cup now complete, where now for Bermuda and the other associates?

2009 is critical because if you don't re-qualify you lose that One-Day International status. I'm now working with ten teams to lift the standard when it comes to that qualifying tournament in '09.

Out of the six associate countries (Ireland, Canada, Bermuda, Scotland, Netherlands, Kenya) Bermuda are currently ranked sixth and it's no secret that the likes of Denmark, Namibia, UAE possibly even Nepal - they're looking for Bermuda's spot.

Look at what Bermuda gained as a result of the World Cup - $11m of Government investment in the sport. That's a pretty attractive thing for other countries to have. You can bet the ones that missed out last time are after Bermuda's spot.

What was your view of Bermuda's World Cup performance?

We compared Bermuda's efforts against the other associates. In terms of numbers - batting, bowling -Bermuda was not up to scratch with the others, and some of the others weren't that strong.

What advice have you given to help rectify that for next time?

Gus Logie has already started with an excellent idea of opening it up and having a skills day (where all players were invited to try out for the national teams). That sits very closely with my idea of trying to focus on what is coming through the system rather than relying on the experienced players.

Any team looking to rebuild has got to put the emphasis on talent identification.

Will the ICC be hosting more academies/training camps for the associate nations?

We are not holding the winter training camp in Pretoria. The idea of those camps was to work with the best of the associate players in the run up to the World Cup.

This time the focus is on development. We'll be looking to replicate the programme as closely as possible in each country.

We'll bring in high quality coaches and go through testing regimes, video analysis and try to present that to the best 12,16,20 young players and have a mini-academy.

What we are looking at here is talent development - players who may play a part in 2009, but definitely guys who would still be on the map in 2011.

Talent identification is crucial. And it's even more crucial in Bermuda, because the population is so small.

What were the positives for you, from Bermuda's World Cup?

A lot of focus has been on the older players but there are some young players up and coming: Malachi Jones, Stefan Kelly, Stephen Outerbridge, Delyone Borden, OJ Pitcher, they've got talent to burn.

It's a matter of harnessing that and making the most of it. They should form that centerpiece of that mini-academy - it's not just about players that aren't in the team but those that are breaking into it as well.

What other issues does Bermuda have to tackle?

I was here a year ago and I spoke about the facilities. You still need to focus on the National Centre. Any country that doesn't have a centre-piece for its cricket is going to struggle.

The issue of soil importation is absolutely critical. Bermuda is scheduled to host three Intercontinental Cup (four-day tournament) games in 2008 and three one-day-international against Canada are schedule for June 2008.

If the soil issue is not solved then those games will have to be held elsewhere. Those fixtures were put in place on the understanding that the ground would be accredited.

There's two main points there - talent identification and the ability to host ODIs - are they the key issues for Bermuda?

If Bermuda was to tackle those two issues, with the programme they have got in place, that's going to go a long way towards requalificaton in 2009.

If you don't requalify, then you're not a One Day International nation any more. It's a pretty important time.

The World Cup brought the associates into the spotlight. What was your view of the negative reaction the presence of six associate countries evoked in this tournament?

In one respect it was great to have the argument out there about the 'minnows' as they have been called, including Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

There is a review taking place. A lot of the issues that have been and will be discussed revolve around the length of the competition and the number of associates that play.

Pushing the High Performance programme, my view is that six countries should qualify.

Will you have a say in the format of the next World Cup?

My view is out there and is being taken into consideration. At the moment I have no reason to believe that there will not be six associate nations at the World Cup in 2011.[[In-content Ad]]

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