Government failed to support Bermuda?s cricket team until it began to do well, an Opposition politician told the House of Assembly., said the UBP welcomed the $1.9 million the Government was ploughing into the national team now that it had qualified for the ICC World Cup in 2007. But he claimed the cash should have been spent sooner.

?Whilst we on this side do support sport and we do support the investment in the ICC World Cup, it comes with a little concern, in that it took the national cricket team, it took them proving to this Government that they were worthy of the investment and this is so very typical of sport,? he said.

?Rather than investing in the development of sport to allow them to excel, you wait until they have proved themselves.?

His comments were made on Friday night during a House debate on Government budget overspending for 2005/06. The $1.9 million did not appear in the original budget, but was pledged after the team qualified for the tournament last summer.

Mr. Brunson said he wished the Government would support burgeoning talent as well as athletes with a proven track record.

?We have over 35 national governing bodies that also have athletes. Is this Government sending a message that if you achieve we will invest?

?On this particular investment it raises the question, what is Government?s commitment not only to the ICC World Cup but to sport in general and the other 35 boards that exist??

He added that national team cricket players should have been adequately paid for the last seven years in order to allow them to train to represent their country. ?Only when they qualified did this government say we are going to support you.?

UBP spokesman for economic empowerment said: ?We don?t want to give other sporting bodies the sense that it?s all or nothing.

?We want to see a government that goes out and aggressively looks at development programmes. Let?s try and see how we can go about cultivating and developing our talent.

?We should not have people feeling as though they have to make a shining star of themselves before they can get that cultivation.? said proper investment in cricket in Bermuda should have been made decades ago but that the Government was now putting matters right.

?The money is there and it will be well spent and hopefully we can get our calibre, our level of cricket, back to where it was in the 1960s,? he said.said: ?We have made sure that the sporting community knows that this Government stands behind it. The young men who are representing Bermuda do so now with the greatest sense of confidence, knowing their bills are going to be paid.?