Bermuda Cricket Board treasurer Neil Speight yesterday urged the Island to move away from the controversy surrounding the omission of Jason Anderson from the Bermuda squad for the Americas Championship.

Instead, he asked the country to give those selected their full backing and to reciprocate the ?fantastic? support given to the football team during their recent World Cup campaign, when the action gets underway next week.

?While we acknowledge we could have done things better with regards to the Anderson issue, it is now in the best interests of Bermuda cricket for everybody to put all their energy towards getting behind the team,? he said.

?We share an office with football, and were of course thrilled with Bermuda?s strong showing in that competition. But we now urge the public to place the same emphasis on cricket during a week which will be packed with lots of great cricket.?

Teams from USA, Canada, Cayman Islands, Bahamas and Argentina will be arriving over the weekend to compete in the round-robin tournament, with the top three placed teams qualifying for the ICC Trophy in Ireland next year.

The fourth-placed team will have to travel to Malaysia later this year for an additional qualifying group of eight teams, with only the first placed team making it to Ireland.

Play in the Americas Championship gets underway on Tuesday and continues throughout the week, with the teams taking a day off next Friday.

All matches will be played over 50 overs and start at 11.00 a.m.

All teams will wear whites and use red balls while all matches have been appointed a match referee who will be strictly enforcing the International Cricket Council?s Code of Conduct.

Admission is free at all grounds ? which include Lord?s, Somerset Cricket Club, St.George?s Cricket Club and Southampton Oval ? except for the National Sports Centre where admission to the ground will be ten dollars.

The BCB announced yesterday that all participants in the BCB summer cricket camp programmes would be allowed into the NSC free of charge.

Four Bermudian umpires, George Francis, Wilbur Pitcher, Roger Dill and Steven Douglas, have been selected to officiate at the championships, along with two umpires from Cayman Islands and one representative from each of the remaining countries.

Bermuda begin their campaign against Argentina at Somerset CC next Tuesday and will then face Cayman Islands the next day at Lord?s.

Bahamas are the Island?s opponents at the NSC on Thursday, before a rip-roaring weekend which will see Bermuda take on Canada and USA at the same venue.

With the latter three teams the favourites on paper to lead the Americas region challenge in Ireland, the schedule released by the BCB has certainly paved the way for a potentially thrilling climax to an action-packed week.

Canada will include the now famous British Colombian born, former Australian state player John Davidson, who recently recorded match figures of 17 for 137 in the inaugural Intercontinental Cup Match against the USA last month ? the best first class figures since English offspinner Jim Laker took 19 wickets at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1956.

Davidson also recorded the fastest ever World Cup hundred against the West Indies, reaching three figures in 2003 off only 67 balls at Centurion Park in South Africa.

Philo Wallace, the ex-West Indies Test player, will be representing the US.

This the first time in its history that Bermuda have played host to a senior international competition, and Speight was yesterday clearly looking forward to the first calls of ?Play!? on Tuesday morning.

?This should be a truly fantastic tournament with lots of very competitive and exciting cricket,? he said.

?Although anything can happen in this sport of ours, the most crucial games should be those over next weekend between Canada, the US and ourselves. But I would hope that Bermudians will be out in force throughout the week if possible to support the team and create an atmosphere worthy of a high-profile international event.?