in the region, including the West Indies, over the weekend.

The gathering, the second within a span of six months, will feature the International Cricket Council Divisional Manager for the region, Ross Turner.

The other countries participating are Canada, United States, Cayman Islands, Argentina and the West Indies.

In addition to Turner, a familiar face among the representatives will be former West Indies Test batsman Gus Logie who will represent his board. The previous meeting by the group of countries was held in Toronto, Canada, in November and on that occasion they came up with an adventurous seven-year international programme that was designed to take the region's cricket to new heights.

That plan called for increased international involvement for all countries at various levels, from senior to under-19 and under-15 national squads, and activity involving some of these teams is set to begin within the next few months.

The forum will take place at Grotto Bay on Saturday and Sunday and Bermuda Cricket Board of Control president El James sees it as another step forward for Bermuda cricket.

Continued on page 15 ICC in town Continued from page 13 James, who is looking forward to the Island taking a more active role at international level, said: "Naturally we are excited about being the host.

It's a follow up to the meeting we had in Toronto in November when we came up with a seven-year programme, there are matters arising from that meeting and consequently I expect a lot of new developments.'' "ICC have given a commitment to development of cricket among the smaller nations in the region and with the help of the West Indies Board and the presence of Mr. Ross it gives we smaller countries added incentive to work harder for developmental ideas and come up with plans that will assist everybody.'' James said that dividends have already been paid from the first meeting when the group organised an Americas team for the Under-19 World Cup in January, a team that included four young Bermuda cricketers and was managed by the BCBC's office manager Michael Glasford.

From that original meeting in Toronto the group's seven-year programme called for a senior regional tournament in Toronto in August with matches to be played on the grounds that will host the ICC Trophy next year. The senior team will then play in another regional tournament in Argentina in 2002.