@$:BYLINE-FRANK:By KYLEHUNTERSports EditorBODY-FRANK:Acouple of years ago Bermuda's national cricket team were set to go off the island on tour shortly after Cup Match. National coach Gus Logie asked the players not to play in the annual classic fearing injuries could strike some players down. BODY-FRANK-2:And there ensued a bit of an uproar. After all Cup Match is what every cricket player in Bermuda wants to compete in ¿ it is what they aspire to all year long.But Logie was looking at the bigger picture ¿ one which had been drummed into him since an early age and which eventually saw him play for the West Indies Test team. And that bigger picture said it must be country before club.There was no uproar this year as Bermuda were gearing up for the ICCWorld Twenty20 qualifiers in Belfast, Northern Ireland.Perhaps it is because Bermuda's national side is full of young players.As national team captain Irving Romaine said shortly before departing Bermuda yesterday: "The younger players now are striving for international success. The players we had before obviously grew up with Cup Match as the premier game you could play in. But these youngsters now strive for their schooling and cricket as a way out. You can see it in their game. They want to play in England (and overseas) ¿ it is a bonus for them. And it is only helping the game all round in Bermuda."Irving added: "These guys (on the national team) will miss CupMatch because it is our heritage but to make the Twenty20 World Cup is something they are looking and striving for. They want to experience playing againstIreland and Scotland and other (international) teams. And they know Cup Match will always be there for them."Logie said: "These young guys look at things different. They are looking at the bigger picture."The Trinidadian added: "I remember when I said that (two years ago) about not playing in Cup Match ¿ I thought I would be run out of the country!"Yesterday the national team players ¿ many of them young and who didn't figure in the World Cup a few years ago ¿ set off for Belfast to take on the best cricketers from the six Associate countries who are all competing in the World Twenty20 qualifiers.Logie said: "I think that now people are seeing the big picture ¿ there is no two ways about it although you will always have die-hards who will say club before country."But I think people realise how important it is to represent your country. And that is not to devalue Cup Match ¿ I do realise how important it is ¿ it has its own significance and quite rightly so but your country should come first. I have always supported the players playing Cup Match but if the country has something on then that must come first. "I think generally the younger players realise that it is a global game ¿ we are in a global village ¿ and whatever you do at the national level is recognised world wide. The young players are grabbing it (their chances) with both hands."Of course the guys will follow Cup Match on the internet and then the telephone is right there. They will know what is happening and no doubt there will be much talk and joking about it which is good."Of the World Cup Twenty20 qualifying in Belfast, captain Romaine said:"We are all looking forward to it ¿ a chance to make the World Cup."And while Bermuda have not played that many Twenty20 games, Romaine said:"It is more of a mental adjustment. When you have a bad ball you have to jump on it. You have to get in as quick as you can and hit the bad ball. And as a bowler you only have four overs so you can't ball a bad ball."Logie said he has been pleased with the lead up to the tournament in Belfast."Everything has been going great in the last six to seven weeks ¿ things have been running smoothly and the players have been given contracts and most are full time now. I am really looking forward to Ireland and doing very well there and getting one of those qualifying spots."Zimbabwe are now out of the Twenty20 finals and the Associates will get three spots.With Bermuda having just played Scotland in a four-day Intercontinental Cup game, Logie said adjusting to the Twenty20 version shouldn't be that difficult."It is a different format of the game but you still have to do the basics well. That is one of things that I have been emphasising. We do have individual players who can be explosive and they will be put into positions to play those roles. But generally we want to play decent cricket, hit the gaps and run the singles. Those are the things that will be very important and also you have to think on your feet a lot quicker. At the end of the day the guys all understand what it is all about and the urgency that will be needed and you can see that (in training)."We also have to cut down on extras and I am happy with what I've seen during two simulated matches that we have played. Those extras have been minimal. One day we had four extras and that is good by any standard."Logie said he was also looking forward to going back to Ireland and the conditions they will most likely find there."The temperature is a lot cooler than here and the pitches are a lot greener ¿ the ball usually has a bit of sideways movement. We did enjoy it (in 2005 when Bermuda qualified for the World Cup) and we had bowlers who could use (that atmosphere) ¿ medium to fast bowlers and the batsmen liked the lower balls."The tournament will be a challenge ¿ one which Logie relishes."We have two games in one day and that will be different and a challenge and we have focussed a lot of our energies over the last few weeks on conditioning and recovery rate. We will be prepared for that. They will be pressure games. We have a young team, younger legs although mentally it could be draining."Logie, noting that in the Intercontinental Cup game against Scotland, Bermuda's team had eight players who were 25 years old or younger, said: "Working with young players is nice. They are sponges. I always tell the guys that once you think you have learned all you can about this game then you should stop playing. The game is a great leveler. One day you are up and the next you are down."I have found the players in the squad to be very receptive to what I have been saying and they themselves have seen an improvement in their own abilities. That is what makes it all worthwhile."One of the senior members of the team, Dwayne (Sluggo) Leverock, said:"We (the senior players) try to be mentors to the younger players."The teams playing in Belfast will be Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Holland, Scotland and Kenya. The two finalists will qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 in England next year and the winner of the third and fourth-place play-off game will also qualify with Zimbabwe stepping down from the tournament.Ireland, the top seed, will be led by William Porterfield, the 23-year-old left-hander who is currently playing for Gloucestershire, and who succeeded Trent Johnston as captain this year. Porterfield is yet to captain Ireland in an ODI but has led his team in five Friends Provident Trophy matches. And although his side lost four of the matches, Porterfield inspired his team to a four-wicket victory over Warwickshire, which was Ireland's first win over a county side in two years. Kenya, meanwhile, will be led by their veteran, Steve Tikolo, in a squad that features 11 players who participated in the last World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007. Captain since 2002, Tikolo was instrumental in not only earning ODI status for Kenya but also a place in the 1999 World Cup when he scored 147 against Bangladesh in the 1997 qualifiers. Thomas Odoyo, the Associate ODI Player of the Year, is the other veteran, having played in all four World Cups in which Kenya have participated. Third seed Scotland, led by Ryan Watson, have opted for continuity in naming a squad which has just three changes from the side which participated in last year's World Twenty20. The Dutch squad is less certain, however. Alexei Kervezee, their gifted young batsman who plays for Worcestershire, pulled out of their Intercontinental Cup match against Ireland recently, and is unlikely to be fit in time for the qualifiers. There is better news, however, with the inclusion of Ryan ten Doeschate, the Essex allrounder and one of Associate cricket's most exciting batsmen. John Davison returns to bolster a very inexperienced Canada.The qualifiers get underway on August 2.Bermuda are in Group A with Ireland and Scotland and they will take on both sides in one day ¿ August 3.