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By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)
USA U-18 captain Steven Taylor is finding new ways to motivate
himself in age group competition at this week’s ICC America’s U-18 Match
Play Camp in Florida. Taylor, who made his USA senior team debut in
2010 at the age of 16 says he wants to score a century in every one of
USA’s four round-robin matches against Bermuda and Canada at the Central
Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill.
“It’s big but I know I can do it, to make four hundreds, one in each
game,” Taylor said in an interview last week when asked about any goals
he had for the upcoming event. “I know it’s a big thing to do but I
think I’m capable of doing it, and I want for us to win everything.”
Taylor
previously captained the USA U-15 squad in New York in 2009 when they
finished runner-up to Canada in the ICC Americas Northern Division U-15
Tournament. More recently, he had a leadership role last summer in
Ireland as the USA U-19 team’s vice-captain at the 2011 ICC U-19 World
Cup Qualifier.
Image (right) - Steven Taylor file photo from his century against
Papua New Guinea at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland.
Can he score four in four matches this week? [Courtesy: Peter Della
Penna/DreamCricket.com]
Taylor doesn’t say much on the field and prefers to let his bat do
the talking. However, he says he won’t be afraid to speak up if he sees
problems pop up in one area specifically: team chemistry. In the past
there have been rumors about divisions in USA’s junior teams based on
regional factions. Taylor admits there have been problems and plans on
doing what he can to prevent it from happening again, both with this
squad and the one that is picked next year to play for the USA U-19 team
at the ICC Americas U-19 Division One Tournament.
“I knew it was going to be a challenge for us to play as a team in
Ireland because we were having our differences,” Taylor said. “In the
past it was all just who was from where. We’re from here and they’re
from there. There was always different groups, always a west coast and
an east coast thing. The main thing now will be just playing as a team.
It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, New York, South West or
Central. Just play as one team, United States Under-19.”
USA’s first match at the 2012 ICC Americas U-18 Match Play Camp
begins Tuesday morning against Bermuda. Canada defeated Bermuda by two
wickets with three balls to spare on Monday in the event’s first match.
Bermuda posted 198 for 9 in a rain-reduced 47-over match after being
sent in to bat. Canada were 77 for 6 in the 30th over before clawing
back to pull out a win. DreamCricket.com will have live coverage of
every match beginning at 9:30 a.m. EST.