Next February's Under-19 World Cup will now be hosted by New Zealand and not Kenya as originally planned, the International Cricket Council (ICC) have confirmed.

World cricket's governing body concluded during a recent Board meeting at Lords, attended by Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) chief executive Neil Speight, that Kenya's preparations were too far behind schedule to be able to host a tournament of such magnitude.

"Regrettably, the conclusion reached was that the amount of work still to be done to get many of the venues ready was such that retaining Kenya as a host represented too great a risk to the successful staging of the event," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat explained.

"It is a difficult conclusion to have reached and a regrettable one from the perspectives of both the ICC and Cricket Kenya, but with just eight months to go before the scheduled start, we could not proceed on the basis of hoping that everything would be ready next February.

"The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup is the highest profile event in the ICC's development calendar. Coverage of the matches is broadcast all around the world and it is a recognised stepping stone for players to graduate to full international level."

It was agreed that New Zealand will now host the Under-19 World Cup instead.

"We are grateful to New Zealand Cricket for its offer to stage the tournament. It did so successfully in 2002 and we look forward to it doing so again in 2010," Lorgat added.

Bermuda made its first appearance in the Under-19 World Cup during the previous tournament hosted by Malaysia last year and will take the first steps towards re-qualifying for next year's event during next week's Under-19 Americas Regional Championships in Toronto.

The eventual top two finishers in the round robin tournament will advance through to a ten-team global qualifier – also to be held in Toronto in September – which will see the top five teams qualify for next year's Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand.

The Island's 14-member squad, led by promising Bailey's Bay batsman Terryn Fray, leave for Toronto tomorrow and are scheduled to play Argentina in their opening Americas Regional Championship match at Maple Leaf Cricket Club next Monday.

Bermuda will then take on Cayman Islands July 7, USA July 8, Bahamas July 10 and tournament hosts Canada July 11.

Led by then-skipper Rodney Trott, Bermuda went undefeated in the previous Under-19 regional tournament in Toronto to qualify for a maiden Under 19 World Cup.

Bermuda's current squad boasts the likes of promising left-arm seamer Greg Maybury, off spinner Joshua Gilbert, in-form batsman Kamau Leverock and vice-captain Chris Douglas who stroked a polished half- century against Chris Gayle's West Indies in Toronto last summer.

The team also includes BCB High Performance Players such as Kevon Fubler and Jordan DeSilva who represented Bermuda at the previous Under 19 World Cup.

Bermuda: Terryn Fray (capt), Greg Maybury, Deunte Darrell, Jordan DeSilva, Chris Douglas (vice-capt), Kevon Fubler, Regino Smith, Sinclair Smith, Joshua Gilbert, Kamau Leverock, Lateef Trott, Staphen Dill, Tre Manders, Pierre Smith. Coaches: Andre Manders, Clevie Wade.