BERMUDA, the defending champions of the Americas Region Division 1 competition, have been gearing up for the tournament later this month by sending half a dozen of the national team players to the acclaimed Brisbane Academy in Australia while the rest of the squad have been training indoors at the Bermuda High School Gym.

Meanwhile Canada and the United States ¿ two of the island's main opponents in the tournament which will be staged in Florida ¿ will be getting ready by taking on the likes of Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica and Guyana in the Regional Limited Overs Competition in Guyana which started yesterday.

And while Bermuda national coach Gus Logie admitted that the US and Canada would get excellent experience by playing in the Regional Overs tournament against such top opposition, he warned that it could also be a "double-edged sword".

The Americas competition starts on November 24 at a new stadium specially built for cricket in Broward County. Six countries, namely Bermuda, Argentina, Canada, Cayman Islands, Suriname and the US will compete for the title. For Suriname, an affiliate, it will be their first appearance in Division I. The team earned the right to compete having won Division 2.

Logie said of the US and Canada taking on the likes of Jamaica and Barbados: "It is going to be a pretty good warm-up for them ¿ providing there is not any rain in Guyana!

"But I think it will be a good opportunity for them to get exposed to a level of cricket that they haven't seen in quite while. They will be playing against all the young up and coming players in the Caribbean ¿ they are going to be facing tough opposition but it can work either way. They can do well and their confidence level can get high but also if they do not do well their confidence level can be low ¿ it goes both ways. It all depends how well they play and by what margins they win or lose."

Logie said there had been discussions in the past about Bermuda attending the competition in the Caribbean. "But it all depended on the availability of the players. That is something we have always had problems with. With a competition like that you want to take your best team and that means the people who train ¿ people who will be committed to that sort of programme and it is no secret that we have not had that. So it makes it very difficult to take that opportunity at this point in time."

Of how tough the Americas tournament will be Logie said: "In terms of the Americas region Canada and the US have always been our biggest rivals but the Cayman Islands are coming up as well. They have a lot to play for. And Suriname is an unknown quantity but they are close to Guyana and I imagine they will have a few Guyanese players playing for them ¿ we can't take them lightly. Also Argentina have been improving all the time. We have something to play for ¿ we are the defending champions and we want to come out on top. If we do it gives us confidence going forward. We feel we can do ourselves justice."

Logie noting that many of the teams ¿ particularly the US and Canada ¿ have players born elsewhere, especially in cricket-playing nations, said: "We know the US have some quality players from all over the world. I think America are fortunate of having a big immigrant population. And they now have the opportunity to represent the US. We don't have that in Bermuda."

The coach said the Bermuda players have been training indoors at the Bermuda High School Gym and there have been "good days and some indifferent days".

Right now the players in Bermuda are looking forward to the return of the six players who have been in Australia training for the past couple of months. The six are captain Irving Romaine, Rodney Trott, Tamauri Tucker, Christopher Douglas, Kyle Hodsoll and Oronde Bascome and they have been attending the Brisbane Academy and are expected back in Bermuda any day now.

"We hope they come back and bring some information as well and incorporate that into the sessions we are having. I hope that it (the information) will be very useful when we get to America."

And Logie said he also hoped that the Bermudian players picked up the attitudes from the Australian players they have been training and playing with while Down Under.

"Australians have that never-say-die attitude to cricket ¿ in fact all sports ¿ and that is one of the reasons why we sent them there. We really need to have the right attitude. Cricket should be played only one way ¿ seriously and with passion and determination and that is something Australians have not only in cricket but throughout their sport. They take their sport very seriously ¿ they know that to be successful you need to put the work in."

Of sending a group of six down to Australia as opposed to one or two, Logie said: "It is a good idea to send a group down there. They are not so lonely and they watch each other progress. One of the good things about having Irving Romaine there is that he is a father figure to some of them and he knows the objectives that they are all working towards. As captain of the national team he can see the work they are putting in and also it is a good education for him as well. It is a win-win situation and the board (BCB) has to be commended for that."

Bermuda will have explosive batsman Glenn Blakeney in the side for the Americas tournament and Logie said: "He is part of the programme now and has been training. He will bring experience ¿ he has a quality and a skill and we are hoping he can replicate what he has done previously for Bermuda and his club. It doesn't happen by chance ¿ it happens through hard work."

The Canadian squad for West Indies' domestic one-day tournament which began yesterday feature some new inclusions, but is weakened by the notable absence of batsman Rizwan Cheema. One of the star performers in the tri-series in King City also involving West Indies and Bermuda in August, Cheema scored two half-centuries in three ODIs and averaged 61.33 in his debut series.

The Canadian Cricket Association said was omitted because he did have a travel document.

While Sunil Dhaniram has been retained as captain, Umar Bhatti, the fast bowler who missed tri-series, has been appointed his deputy, marking another change from that tournament when Abdool Samad, the middle-order batsman, was vice-captain. Samad will also keep wickets as Ashish Bagai misses out due to work commitments.

Sandeep Jyoti, the opening batsman who made his last ODI appearance in January 2007 against Scotland, makes a return to the squad. Qaiser Ali, the middle order batsman who has also played domestic cricket in Pakistan, too finds a place after being left out for the tri-series. Zahid Hussain, the legspinner, who has played six first-class matches in Pakistan, is the fresh face in the team.

The US team which will face Barbados today, has lost the services of the country's most accomplished batsman and captain Steve Massiah.

Massiah will miss the series because of work commitments.

It is understood he was hoping to play the United States' final two preliminary matches against Trinidad and Tobago and the Combined Universities on November 17 and 18 respectively.

Sudesh Dhaniram, is also missing from the original squad, as well as key batsman Rashard Marshall and Shaheed Munir.

Manaf Mohamed, vice president of USACA explained that the three players cited job release problems.

Akeem Dodson and Dennis Evans, two young players who pundits feel should have been selected in the original fourteen, along with Tim Allen and Robert Cresser are the replacements.