The National Sports Centre in Bermuda has been approved to host the ICC Intercontinental Cup match between Bermuda and Scotland scheduled to take place from 10 to 13 July.

It will be the first time since 2004 that a senior international cricket match has taken place in Bermuda and the approval has come following a long process of consultation between the ICC and the Bermuda Cricket Board.

“This is great news for Bermuda cricket,” said ICC High Performance Manager Richard Done.

“I am delighted for the cricket fans of Bermuda, who will finally get the chance to see their team in action and it’s great for the players, too, because every team likes to play with home advantage,” said Mr Done.

In 2005, Bermuda qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 which put Gus Logie’s side in the top six Associate teams in the world and also meant its home ground was subject to stricter accreditation guidelines for hosting international matches.

Although the National Sports Centre is now free to host ICC Intercontinental Cup matches it has not yet received accreditation for One-Day Internationals (ODIs). That involves a more in-depth and rigorous assessment of the facilities.

President of the BCB Reginald Pearman said: “This is a good day for Bermuda and a positive outcome as we work towards our venue securing full ODI status. This is a crucial element of continuing success at the higher levels.

“We recognise the importance of being able to showcase the Bermuda team to play its fixtures at home and we are all looking forward to this match. Scotland continues to be one of the top Associate teams and we are pleased to be able to host them,” added Mr Pearman.

“We are delighted that we will be the first opponents for Bermuda at the newly approved stadium,” said Cricket Scotland’s chief executive Roddy Smith.

“The team have had experience of playing against all our major opponents away from home apart from Bermuda so they are looking forward enormously to Scotland’s first visit to the island. It promises to be a great occasion and is another step forward for Associate cricket,” he said.

The ICC Intercontinental Cup has quickly grown in stature and profile since its inception three years ago and now the ICC’s premier first-class tournament is an integral part of the Associate Members’ cricket schedule.

Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event has evolved into an eight-team, round-robin and truly global tournament featuring four-day cricket which gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the chance to experience the longer form of the game.

The last match to be played at the National Sports Centre, Bermuda was the ICC Intercontinental Cup clash between Bermuda and the United States of America, which the visitor won by 114 runs.