Bermuda have been thrown a cricketing lifeline after the ICC announced they will expand their Intercontinental Cup competition to include a second division.

The Island's cricket team were in danger of being cast into the international wilderness after their miserable showing in the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa last month.

With only the top six Associate nations being granted a spot in the ICC Intercontinental Cup, Bermuda's ninth place finish at the qualifiers could have seen them spending the next 18 months without any four-day cricket on their schedule.

However, the creation of a second tier ICC Intercontinental Shield competition will see Bermuda take on Namibia, Uganda now and the United Arab Emirates over the course of the next 18 months.

According to Bermuda batsman David Hemp, exclusion from four-day cricket would have been a 'disaster' for the game on the Island. And while he would have liked his team to have been in the top competition, Hemp believes just playing the longer version of the game is a plus.

"Well it's better than nothing," said Hemp. "That was the thing for me, when there was the threat of not having any four-day cricket, everyone was worried (about that possibility). The plus thing is that there is going to be four-day cricket which enables players, or the Board, to use it as a development tool for players going forward.

"You've got to have it, without question. Players need to get off the Island and play, and certainly play the longer version of the game because it's a harder game anyway. Physically and mentally it's tougher, so it would have been disasterous if Bermuda had been cut off from that.

"There's all sorts of things they (the ICC) could have done, but obviously from Bermuda's point of view it's great that we're still in some form of four-day competition."

And to make things even more interesting, prizemoney will be available for the first time.

There will be a total of $250,000 in prize money for the Associate teams with $100,000 for the winners of the ICC Intercontinental Cup and $40,000 for the runners-up.

The winners of the ICC Intercontinental Shield will collect $25,000 with the runners-up pocketing $10,000 and matches in both divisions will have the prize of $3,000 for an outright win.

"The Board is extremely pleased with the Development Committee's decision to expand the Intercontinental Cup format," said Bermuda Cricket Board president Reginald Pearman. "By creating a divisional format it will make the tournament more competitive and intriguing.

"From a BCB perspective it is a welcome boost to our High Performance Plan as we will have guaranteed international fixtures over the next 18 months. Playing countries in the four-day format not only develops our game but also provides opportunities to schedule 50-over and Twenty20 games. I look forward to our games against Namibia, UAE and Uganda."

It will be the first time Uganda have been involved in a four-day competition at this level, and in the Cup competition, Afghanistan continue their meteoric rise after being included alongside Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands, Canada and Scotland.

The top six are also likely to be joined by Zimbabwe who will begin their long journey back towards regaining their Test status after an ICC task force recommended their inclusion.

"By creating an additional division we have been able to offer all our Gatorade ICC High Performance Programme countries multi-day cricket which helps them develop the skills needed to perform at a higher level," said ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat.

"I am also delighted that, for the first time, the event has prize money for the Associate teams. It will assist in their ongoing process to professionalise their operations and that, in turn, will help them continue to raise their playing standards."

While the ICC have said that there will be no promotion and relegation between the two competitions for the first season in 2009/10, the mere fact that the Shield and Cup are linked, and not separate competitions, would suggest that movement between the two is a distinct possibility in the future.

n Bermuda's women's national cricket team suffered their second successive defeat at the World Cup Qualifiers in Florida yesterday, losing to Canada by seven wickets in a rain affected game reduced to 20 overs per team.

Batting first, Bermuda scored 71 for seven in 20 overs and Canada replied with 72 for three in 17 overs.

Bermuda's next opponents are Brazil. They were beaten by eight wickets by Argentina on Monday.