Close to six million dollars has been added to the Department of Youth and Sport?s 2006 budget ? half of which will be lavished on Bermuda?s national cricket team.

The total department budget now stands at $14,767,000, up from $9,651,000 last year.

Added to this, a $10 million capital project grant has been handed to the National Sports Centre to kickstart work on the long-awaited centre core.

Community Affairs and Sports Permanent Secretary Derek Binns said yesterday that the Ministry?s lobbying for extra cash had become an increasingly easy task since Government placed an emphasis on youth development when it launched the Social Agenda.

?We?re obviously ecstatic about the increase,? he said.

?It?s true that $3 million of that is going purely towards cricket but the other three million is being well utilised.

?One million dollars has been allocated to the Clubs Commission, which is currently in the final phases of producing its report on the state of Bermuda?s sporting clubs and what needs to be done to improve them. Ultimately the Commission will be taking applications from clubs for funding and will then make recommendations to the Minister (Dale Butler) who has final say over where the money is spent.

?The rest is being put aside for other sports development, including grants for those competing internationally at events such as the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.?

A sizeable chunk of the extra $3 million was the $765,000 grant given to the 20-20 World Cricket Classic, which begins at the NSC this April.