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Bermuda is bidding to take part in the West Indies domestic competition next season.

The cricket board has applied for a slot alongside the crème of Caribbean cricket, including sporting heavyweights like Jamaica and Barbados, in the CaribBeer Cup.

Chief Executive Neil Speight is still waiting for a response to his request to take part in the tournament, which would offer exposure to international class competition in the run-up to the World Cup.

Teams like Ireland and Scotland already have an advantage over Bermuda after they were permitted to enter English county competitions like the C&G Cup.

And Speight is keen to level the playing field by getting our players involved in a similar level of competition.

He said teams like Scotland, Ireland and Holland had it easy in terms of access to high quality opponents in the English domestic league.

And they could all play against each other on a regular basis without the expense of major air travel.

But he said it was imperative that Bermuda kept pace with those nations by competing internationally as often as possible.

He’ll have a better idea of the full World Cup warm-up schedule when the ICC development committee meets at the end of the month.

But there will be no competition before Christmas despite many efforts by the board to schedule matches so now organizing a January and/or February tour is a priority.

At the moment there are several irons in the fire with a triangular tournament between United Arab Emirates, Kenya and Bermuda one option.

A visit to Trinidad, Guyana or the Windward Islands is another possibility.

Another priority was to ensure Bermuda's fringe players kept pace with the elite by organizing a series of international matches for a Bermuda ‘A’ Team.

“We need to get more players, more cricket,” he added.

As for the CaribBeer Competition its now down to the Carribean cricket authorities.

“That would be a big thing in terms of levelling the playing field with teams like Scotland and Ireland but we have to wait and see what they say.”

Visiting West Indies legend Lance Gibbs agreed that Bermuda needed to play against the best if they were to improve.

The tournament, which starts in November, has been reduced in size this season because of financial problems, but it is hoped to be back to full strength in 2006/2007.[[In-content Ad]]

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