Bermuda Cricket Board of Control president Reggie Pearman says lessons learned and experiences gained from the performance by Bermuda's victorious under-15 squad in Florida will be invaluable in the near future.

Speaking in the wake of last week's Americas Regional tournament in Orlando during which the Island's youngsters thrashed hosts US, Cayman Islands, Canada, Argentina and a Combined Affiliates team to finish as convincing winners, Pearman said the success of the junior national team at this level was proof that local cricket was headed in the right direction.

"We have run a youth league at the under-13, under-15 and under-19 level for many years and the volunteers that continually donate their time should be proud to see the fruits of their labour," said Pearman.

The president also heaped praise on youth coaches Randy Raynor, Herbie Bascome, Charlie Marshall, Peter Philpott and others whom he said had invested their time and contributed to the Island team's success in Florida.

"We must recognise that the the under-15 side has shown a remarkable depth. The games played were not dominated by one or two players - a facet that is important at the national level," added Pearman.

"I would also like to thank the Bank of Bermuda who sponsored the tours to and from Cayman Islands in 2000 and 2001 at this level.

"I believe that the investment and experience has gone a long way to contributing to our success last week."

Meanwhile, national coach Mark Harper who accompanied the Island team to Florida commended coaches George Cannonier and Grant Smith for a job well done.

"A lot of hard work went into preparation and I would like to say that George Cannonier and Grant Smith must take a lot of credit for that," said Harper.

Having now achieved success, Harper stated that it was important to try and keep the nucleus of the side together in hopes of building on their performance in the US.

"What I could recommend to the Board is that we try to develop a national under-17 team so that we will be able to keep these guys together.

"From the under-17s they could probably go on to under-19s, although I think that from now to the under-19s is a big step."