The Americas Division One tournament starts in Bermuda on Friday, with four of the six countries going into the event possibly with one eye on upcoming World Cricket League (WCL) commitments.

Canada are taking part in the WCL Division One tournament in early July in the Netherlands, while Argentina, Cayman Islands and United States are playing in WCL Division Four in Italy, possibly in August.

Canada have rested captain Ashish Bagai and its Australasian-based contingent from the competition in Bermuda. Bagai is expected to play in Division Four although whether John Davison and Ian Billcliff will make that trip is as yet unknown.

The Cayman Islands have rested their premier batsman, Pearson Best, for this tournament, but coach Theo Cuffy told Cricinfo he will play in WCL Division Four.

There are six changes from the United States squad which won Division Five in Nepal in January. Four of the squad - wicketkeeper Azhar Mehdi and medium-pacers Imtiaz Moazzam, Adrian Gordon and Mohammad Khan - are making their debuts while offspinning allrounder Mohammad Ghous and batsman Azurdeen Mohammed played in the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year. Steve Massiah is again the captain of a USA squad which, as is typical, has no American-born players.

Argentina has a new coach in former Northamptonshire player, Toby Bailey, following the return of Hamish Barton to New Zealand. Match fitness may not be a huge issue for Argentina, this tournament coming not long after the close of their domestic season although the team has not played together as a unit since WCL Division Three in January 2009.

Aside from playing in front of home crowds, the other feature for Bermuda will be the first hit-out under new coach, Australian David Moore, who is thought to be something of a disciplinarian. The captain is the vastly experienced David Hemp.

Bahamas return to Division One and are looking to consolidate their place in the top flight of cricket in the region. For the first time, a three-day Twenty20 event has been added.

Panama 303 (Bhakta 48, Tarajiya 47, Chohan 69; Singh 3-35) beat Suriname 181 (Sewanan 31, Amir 4-28) by 122 runs.

Bahamas 304 (Peters 62, Taylor 40, Tappin 40, Hartman 4 for 57) beat Brazil 112 (Caisley 26, Ekanayake 3-44) by 192 runs.

Expectations of a classic final in the Pepsi ICC Americas Division 2 Championship between Suriname and Bahamas took a sudden change with Suriname going down to a convincing defeat at the hands of Panama on day one of the event. It was the third Americas tournament in a row Panama has beaten Suriname.

Panama won the toss and decided to bat on the artificial surface of Windsor Park. A solid opening partnership of 121 between Nilesh Bhakta (48) and Imran Bulbuia set the stage for a large target. The opening stand was followed by useful contributions from Irfan Tarajia (47) and skipper Soyab Chohan (69) as Panama reached a respectable innings of 303 in its 50 overs. Vishaul Singh remained the most successful bowler for Suriname taking 3-35 in six overs.

The defending champions started their reply in a confident manner with openers Vishaul Singh and Deraj Sewanan putting on 61 in ten overs, but when Singh was dismissed, the rest of the batting line up showed little resistance and it was dismissed for 181 all out in the 40th over. Panama's Sailesh Amir was the pick of the bowlers taking 4-28. With its effective all-round performance on the first day, Panama now joins the Bahamas as the teams to watch for in the Championship.

On the turf wicket at the Haynes Oval, host Bahamas had an easy day against newly-promoted Brazil. The South Americans lost their captain Matt Featherstone to an injury prior to the tournament and it was very obvious his batting talent was sadly missed. Bahamas won the toss and elected to bat on a good strip.

Marc Taylor (40), Ryan Tappin (40) and Jon Barry (47) gave the home side a solid foundation but it was Albert Peters (62), batting at number eight, who entertained the crowd with seven fours and three sixes off 44 balls. Rudyard Hartman was Brazil's most successful bowler taking 4-57. Chasing a target of 305 was never going to be easy for Brazil and it was bowled out to 112 all out in the 33rd over. Greigor Caisley followed his tidy work behind the stumps with a useful 26 with the bat. The home side got a fine bowling performance from Narendra Ekanayake who took 3-44 in five overs.

The second day of the tournament will see Turks and Caicos play Suriname at the Haynes Oval, while Panama tackles Brazil at Windsor Park.

In just their second Americas Region competition Bahamas Under-15s proved too powerful for the Cayman Islands and Belize as they ended the Central Division tournament with a perfect 4-0 record.

Cayman Islands captured the silver defeating Belize, the newcomers, twice.

Turan Brown (Bahamas) was declared Player of the Tournament.

The Bahamas Cricket Association will held its AGM on March 8 and the season is expected to get underway on March 22. There will be two leagues, a 50-over competition and a two-day competition as well as other tournaments. The turf wickets have been renovated and teams are raring to get started, according to an ICC Americas release.

John Welch, the Bahamas coach, has resigned his position to move to Scotland.

Bahamas' Under-15s continue to prepare for their upcoming tour of Bermuda (August 2–10, 2008). This will be their first tour against multiple teams after competing against Cayman Islands in a few friendly matches. They will play against Canada, USA, Bermuda and Cayman Islands.

Dynasty Stars cricket club continue to dominate cricket in the BCA league. They have acquired an impressive 4-0 record so far this season. With the acquisition of fast bowler O’Neil Levy and players who perform as a military unit, they seem to be on a roll to another Championship! It remains to be seen if they can continue this pace into the second round of matches.

Next week's ICC annual get-together promises to have more than its fair share of politicking, posturing and controversy. But, unless there is a major about-turn, it should also be a watershed for the Associates and Affiliates.

In 2009, income from the ICC's six-year media deal with ESPN-Star, worth over US$1 billion, kicks in, and while the game's big boys will still keep the lion's share, the rest will see substantial increases in their incomes.

Although the ICC draws considerable flak on many fronts, it is quietly committed to promoting the game in as many countries as possible, and it does that by means of a myriad of competitions and initiatives. Most do not warrant much media attention, but they are there and they work.

Until now, the gripe of the smaller countries, and especially those bubbling just underneath the top flight, has been about the inequality of the way in which the game is financed. That was never more apparent than when it came to earnings from last year's World Cup.

Ireland got a flat fee of US$125,000 a year for four years for taking part, and on top of that they received another $50,000 for reaching the Super Eights. However, because of the extra costs involved in their progression, not least because their players are not professional cricketers and their absences from their full-time jobs had to be underwritten, Ireland's success actually left the board out of pocket.

Zimbabwe, on the other hand, turned up, tied with Ireland and never threatened to progress after being thumped by Pakistan and West Indies. For those three matches, Zimbabwe Cricket received US$11 million, their share of the pot as a Full Member.

The top six Associates receive no more than US$500,000 a year - some substantially less - to fund their entire operations. Out of that they have to pay all their cricketing and administration costs. Only those with a low cost of living, such as Kenya, can hope to maintain a professional squad on that kind of money.

The gulf between the haves and have-nots is further widened by the limited sums Associates can earn from sponsorship and media contracts. Zimbabwe can exploit home series against, say, India to carve out lucrative TV deals worth millions, and on the back of that, attract shirt- and other corporate sponsorship. As highlighted by Scotland's failure to secure any TV deal for their forthcoming ODI against England, the Associates struggle to get such income streams.

The new deals will provide a substantial increase for Associates, especially for the countries who are pressing for space at the top table. Until now the share has been roughly equal, rewarding Netherlands and Kenya on par with Thailand and Fiji. The new system will see more demarcation between the top Associates and the rest.

The leading ten could earn as much as US$1.5 million a year from 2009. There will then be an onus on them to professionalise their administrations, but several of them are already well down that route. They will also be more accountable - the ICC does not want a repeat of the mess that came following a spike in Kenya's funding earlier in the decade.

The second-string Associates will also get more - around US$160,000 as a base figure - but then again the demands on them are less. Even Affiliates will receive US$15,000, with the opportunity for more should they make a good enough case. There will also be more cash in the pot for participating and hosting competitions.

There have never been more opportunities for development outside the Full Member countries, but there remain some nagging worries.

The main one is how to bridge the gap between semi and full-blown professionalism. Almost all the Associates rely on dedicated amateurs, both on and off the field. As the number of ICC competitions has increased - and they have to be welcomed - the pressure has begun to tell. Scotland and Ireland particularly have already found players cannot meet all their commitments, and even the increased income will not allow them to employ a full-time squad.

"So much of putting players on full-time retainers depends on how many fixtures we can command," Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland's chief executive, said. "At the moment, all we can promise the squad in 2009 is a World Cup qualifying campaign, eight FP Trophy matches, an England game, and probably some Intercontinental Cup matches. Of course, we hope to have more, but can't be sure at the moment.

"Our top players are already plying their trade in county cricket, while others have full-time jobs which they may not wish to give up. The actual number of players that the coach will want to put on a full-time contract, or else the number that even want to have one, may not be that many."

The other quandary is how to get them fixtures. Kenya, widely regarded as the leading Associate, have found it almost impossible to get Full Member countries to visit or host them. As a result they invariably play other Associates. Good for the win-loss ratio, not so clever in providing the kind of experience that no amount of money can buy.

These issues will need to be addressed, but for now the future has never looked so promising beyond the Test world.

Violence caused a club match in the Bahamas to be cancelled after rocks were thrown by the members of one side into an area of the pavilion occupied by their opponents.

The incident occurred in a game between St. Agnes and Castrol Commonwealth when the Bahama Journal reported that “players from Castrol Commonwealth were forced to run for cover as the unwarranted attack resulted in rocks being thrown and one player and a fan being injured. The players from St. Agnes who initiated the violence hurled stones on the porch of the shaded area where players, fans and officials were seated. Fortunately no further injuries were sustained.”

At the time of the attack Castrol Commonwealth were 104 for 1 in reply to St. Agnes’ 315.

It may be three long years years away, but the road to the 2011 World Cup begins this week in the unlikely setting of Jersey. More famed for its cattle and potatoes than a venue for cricket tournaments, Jersey plays host to 12 of the world's lesser-known teams in Division 5 of the World Cricket League (WCL), as they battle to climb the ladder to the fourth division and dream of a World Cup place in Asia.

Will Luke previews Division 5 of the World Cricket League which gets underway this week.

There are many cricket fans and supporters, both from the Caribbean and the rest of the world, who would have been surprised to learn of the participation of a team from the Americas [Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Bahamas] in the forthcoming International Under-15 Cricket Championships, scheduled for April 16- May 4

In a competition that is virtually regarded as the U-15 World Cup, the cricketing world would have expected teams from only the top cricket nations to be the participants. Indeed, in the last event of this kind, staged in England some eight years ago, the teams included England, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Netherlands, South Africa and the West Indies, who defeated Pakistan by two wickets in a thrilling final at Lord’s.

Four years earlier in 1996, in the inaugural event held in England, all the Test-playing nations of the time, except New Zealand - Australia, England, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe - competed in the Championships. Canada and the Netherlands took the numbers up to ten countries. In 2000, the number of teams had dropped to eight, as both Australia and New Zealand were unable to participate.

The ICC has since seen the need to develop cricket programmes in other areas in the world, resulting in the appearance of a team from the Americas at this upcoming U15 Tournament. The little-known truth is that the cricketing tradition in both Canada and Bermuda goes back as far as the 1930s, with keen competition between the two countries since 1958. In more recent times Canada and Bermuda have continued their rivalry in the Americas Region I Cup and the Americas Cricket Championship in which the top three finishers get direct entry into the ICC Trophy competition.

At the U-15 level Bermuda has established an excellent tradition and has won the ICC Americas Regional U15 Championship, involving Canada, the U.S.A., Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Bahamas, in both 2002 and 2004. Involvement of the Americas’ Region teams in WICB TCL U-19 competitions has provided players with valuable experience.

In 2005 the ICC introduced the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifying Series, Division 2 with eight nations competing [Cayman Islands, Fiji, Italy, Kuwait, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Qatar and Zambia] and the winner clinching a place in the ICC Trophy competition. There has also been a resurgence in junior cricket in the USA with cricket academies, schools competitions and leagues springing up in California, New Jersey and New York. This has resulted in a USA team participating in the ICC U-15 Americas Tournament in 2006.

So what are the prospects for the Americas team in the International U-15 Cricket Championships? Well they face Kenya in the first round of the knock-out matches and an unlikely victory would pit them against the home team in the semi-finals. Could the Americas team prove to be giant killers? Only time will tell.

Some of Bermuda's most talented young cricketers will compete for an Americas XI in a mini World Cup to be held in the West Indies next month. Click here to read the story in full.

The Bahamas 20/20 side travelled to St.John’s, Antigua to face Jamaica in match 10 of the Stanford 20/20 on February 6. The Bahamas was unfortunate again by drawing Jamaica who has current and former Test players in its side. The Bahamas had trained extremely hard by Coach Gary Brathwaite and Courtney Walsh.

The crowd of mostly Jamaicans were cheering wildly with their pom-poms, spectacular hair styles and clothing to match the colour of their flag. It was electrifying. Jamaica went on to score 191 runs.

The Bahamas struggled throughout their innings and lost four wickets via run outs. The good thing about the match was that the Bahamas held on for the 20 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. Jamaica tried everything to bowl out the Bahamas but could not. There is no doubt that the Bahamas was out played by a superior team and maybe next year the luck of the draw will enable them to play against countries that are not as experienced as Jamaica.

Taken from the ICC Americas newsletter for February 2008

The number of people actively participating in cricket outside the Test-playing countries increased 17% in 2007, according to the ICC.

The research, carried out by the ICC's development program, was collated from 33 Associate and 58 Affiliate members. It showed that there were 338,051 male and female players in those countries in 2007, an increase of 49,158 on the previous year. Since 2002, when there were 144,047 participants, there has been a 135% rise.

Click here for the full story.

Openers Ruvindu Gunasekera and Terryn Fray stroked centuries of contrasting styles and offspinner Pratik Patel captured a remarkable 7 for 3 as Canada and Bermuda maintained their winning streak in the five-team round-robin Americas Under-19 World Cup Qualifier in Toronto on Wednesday.

Bermuda and the Cayman Islands notched victories on the opening day of the Americas Under-19 Qualifiers, as Bermuda eased past the Bahamas by 195 runs while the Cayman Islands powered to a ten-wicket win over Argentina.

Click here for the full report ...