International Cricket Council (ICC) regional boss Martin Vieira has lashed out at an article that appeared on Islandstats.com yesterday questioning the eligibility of Canadian cricketer Kevin James.

The article, entitled 'Questions that need answers', questioned whether or not Dominican-born James had met the necessary requirements to play for Canada's Under 19 national squad during last year's Under 19 Americas Championship in Toronto.

The article read: "During Bermuda's successful run in the Under 19 Americas Championships back in August 2007, where they achieved the glory by defeating Canada on the final day to become the Americas U19 champions, people were asking questions about the eligibility of some of the Canadian players.

"During the tournament all the teams with the exception of Canada stayed at the Hampton Inn Hotel. This lead (led) others including Islandstats.com to question some of the Canadian team members length of stay in the country, as required to represent the country."

When contacted yesterday, Martin insisted that James - who represented Dominica in the Stanford 20/20 earlier this week - had in fact met the necessary requirements to play and dismissed Islandstats.com's article as "absurd".

"All players for Canada qualified under one of the four core nationality criteria and I would suspect that Mr. James was cleared to play having qualified by birth (born in Canada) and having played for a domestic club (Overseas Cricket Club) who are members of the Toronto and District Cricket Association," he said.

ICC Americas Regional Development Manager Martin added that prior to every ICC Americas tournament an event manager and a team of neutral umpires are given the task of verifying that all players meet the ICC's conditions of eligibility, as was the case, he claimed, in the lead up to last year's Under 19 Americas Championship.

"All players who participated in the U19 (Under 19) WCQT (World Cup qualifying tournament) were eligible to play according to our screening committee," he insisted. "If Islandstats or anyone else have proof that they did not then they should produce those documents or correct their sensational journalism.

"The ICC Americas' image should not be questioned without proof. We have on file document (s) signed by Canada (as with all other countries). The ICC Americas have no reason to believe that the proper screening process was not applied fairly to all participants of this tournament, and therefore totally reject the absurd suggestions implied in this article."

As for James' involvement in this week's Stanford 20/20 Tournament, Martin said: "I cannot answer why Mr. James appeared for Dominica in the Stanford 20/20. I have no control over that tournament's eligibility rules or the Dominica Cricket Association's conditions for making their national squad."

When contacted Islandstats.com's Earl Basden declined to comment on the matter.