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Bermuda have been seeded to face Kenya, the Netherlands and the UAE in a tough World Cup qualifying group.

But Gus Logie's men avoided an early encounter with two of the top associates Ireland and Scotland when the groups for the tournament were announced yesterday.

There has been no official confirmation of the draw but the seedings are based on the end of year ICC rankings.

With no games left to be played this year the rankings are almost certain to stay as they are.

The tournament takes place in the first few weeks of April in South Africa with the twelve teams vying for four spots at the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent. The top six will get full one-day-international status, resulting in extra funding and the opportunity to play against the top teams in the world on a regular basis.

The format has yet to be officially announced but it is understood that a 'Super 8' stage will be included for the first time with four countries progressing from each group.

The teams play each other once in the initial round-robin group phase and carry through results against their fellow qualifiers to the 'Super 8' group.

The top four in that second group qualify for the semi-finals and for the World Cup.

Dwayne 'Sluggo' Leverock, a star of the last World Cup and a veteran of the 2005 qualifying campaign in Ireland, said he was happy with the draw and confident that Bermuda could progress.

Sluggo, who leapt 20 places to number 55 in the latest world rankings ahead of international stars like England's Monty Panesar, said: "It should be a real good tournament.

"Everybody is trying to achieve one goal - to get to the World Cup."

He said Bermuda were familiar with all the opposition in the tournament and were not concerned about facing any of them despite a run of bad results against the top associates, including defeats to Kenya, Netherlands and the UAE.

"We'll be fine. The records might say one thing but that doesn't always show what went on, on the field.

"We've had some close games against all these teams, we've played against them on several occasions and we know what we are up against."

Leverock said Bermuda still carried an element of surprise thanks to the infusion of youth brought into the team over the last 12 months.

"We've got quite a few youngsters the other teams won't have seen before which is a good thing."

He added that it was very important for the future of the game in Bermuda that the team made it back to the biggest stage of all.

"We've been there before and we want to get back there again. It would bring the youngsters through to a new level and show them that there's a lot of opportunities out there in cricket."

Of his own elevation to number 55 in the world Leverock added: "It feels really good. It just shows the hard work is paying off."

ICC Rankings (teams)

1, Australia *

2, South Africa *

3, India *

4, Pakistan *

5, New Zealand *

6, England *

7, Sri Lanka *

8, West Indies *

9, Bangladesh *

10, Ireland

11, Zimbabwe *

12, Kenya

13, Netherlands

14, Scotland

15, Canada

16, Bermuda

17, Oman

18, UAE

19, Namibia

20, Denmark

* Qualifies automatically

ICC Rankings (bowlers)

Top ten and selected others

1, Nathan Bracken (Aus)

2, Daniel Vettori (NZ)

3, Muttiah Muralitharan (Sl)

4, Mitchell Johnson (Aus)

5, Kyle Mills (NZ)

6, Sohail Tanvir (Pak)

7, Stuart Broad (Eng)

8, Jacob Oram (NZ)

9, Jerome Taylor (WI)

10, Andrew Flintoff (Eng)

55, Dwayne Leverock (Ber)

58, Jacques Kallis (SA)

65, Ryan Sidebottom (Eng)

78, Monty Panesar (Eng)

97, Andrew Symonds (Aus)

ICC Rankings (batsman)

Top ten and selected others

1, MS Dhoni (ind)

2, Mike Hussey (Aus)

3, Greame Smith (SA)

4, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)

5, Chris Gayle (WI)

6 Yuvray Singh (Ind)

7, Ricky Ponting (Aus)

8, Kevin Pietersen (Eng)

9, Mohammad Yousuf (Pak)

10, Andrew Symonds (Aus)

74, Lionel Cann (Ber)

76, Ravi Bopara (Eng)

91, Irving Romaine (Ber)

96, Matt Prior (Eng)

99, Brad Hodge (Aus)

ICC World Cup Qualifier groups

Group A: Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Oman, Namibia, WCL Div 3 runner-up.

Group B: Kenya, Netherlands, Bermuda, UAE, Denmark, WCL Div 3 winner.

* World Cricket League Division 3 will be contested in January between Afghanistan, Argentina, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.

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