USA Cricketer : ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier

USA Cricket: USA Men's T20 squad and USA U-19 squads released

openingbat — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:28:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

USACA has announced the squads that will be competing at the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 Tournament from July 18-23 in Florida and the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland from July 28-August 9.

In a huge shakeup from the team that finished in last place at ICC World Cricket League Division Three in Hong Kong, 10 of the 14 squad members from that tournament have been replaced. The only four holdovers are Steve Massiah, Orlando Baker, Muhammad Ghous and Usman Shuja. The biggest omission was USA’s vice-captain in Hong Kong, Sushil Nadkarni, while five uncapped players have been included.

Timroy Allen returns to the team after recovering from an injury suffered at ICC WCL Division Four in Italy last August while Adrian Gordon, Aditya Mishra, Gowkaran Roopnarine and Akeem Dodson have all been recalled to represent USA. Gordon also last appeared for the team in Italy while Dodson and Roopnarine last played for USA in 2008. Mishra played for USA last year at The Pearls Cup against Jamaica. Atlantic Region opening partners Roopnarine and Mishra were the two standout batsmen at the 2011 USACA Twenty20 Nationals.

The five first time selections in the squad are Bhim George and Japen Patel from the South East, Nauman Mustafa and Samarth Shah from the North West, and Quasen Alfred from New York. The inclusion of Mustafa means that USA has curiously selected three wicketkeeper-batsmen for the team along with Roopnarine and Dodson.

Of the players missing out from Hong Kong besides Nadkarni, Aditya Thyagarajan and Ritesh Kadu are both currently injured while Durale Forrest, Carl Wright, Rashard Marshall and Lennox Cush did not participate in the Twenty20 Nationals. Sources have indicated that Cush has stopped playing cricket to focus on his rentals business in Guyana.

Ryan Corns had a poor Twenty20 Nationals (13 runs in three innings) and was dropped after just one tour with USA. However several of the players who made the squad ahead of him, including George (14 runs in two innings) and Patel (21 runs in two innings), did not fare much better. All three players excelled in their local leagues and in their inter-league tournaments prior to the Twenty20 Nationals. Corns was named MVP of the Central West Twenty20 inter-league tournament while Patel won the MVP of the South East 50-over inter-league tournament and George was named Best Batsman in the same South East tournament.

Nadkarni also scored heavy in the Central West inter-league tournament and turned in 65 runs in New Jersey at the Twenty20 Nationals, good for fourth overall in the event as he captained the Central West to a runner-up finish. Unfortunately, it appears he is paying the price for a subpar performance in Hong Kong in which he failed to score a half-century in his six innings and had a rough time in the field with several drops.

Asif Khan was harshly dropped from the USA lineup after a solid showing on his debut tour in Hong Kong where the left-arm spinner took the second most wickets for the team with six, behind Kevin Darlington with eight. Khan was also a batting hero in the two-wicket win over Oman, scoring 31 not out while hitting the winning runs as part of a 71-run unbeaten ninth wicket partnership with Shuja, and finished the tour with the second highest batting average on the team behind Massiah. At the Twenty20 Nationals, Khan was one of seven bowlers tied for fifth with four wickets. Darlington, who is now 39, was also left out of the USA squad.

In the final 14-player list for the U-19 team, three changes are now confirmed from the squad that won the ICC Americas U-19 tournament in February. New York Region players Greg Sewdial, Prashanth Nair and Amarnauth Persaud have all been named in the squad while Central East batsman Fahad Babar and Atlantic Region bowlers Kalim Ahmed and Waleed Javed Karimullah are the three who have not made the cut this time around.

Sewdial was always expected to be included upon proving his fitness after scoring the most runs for USA at the 2010 ICC U-19 World Cup. Nair is a very talented left-arm spinner while Persaud presents options with both bat and ball. He is also still young enough to potentially represent USA in the next U-19 World Cup cycle for 2014 along with Steven Taylor.

The captains and team management for both squads have yet to be announced.

USA Men’s squad: Quasen Alfred (New York), Timroy Allen (South East), Orlando Baker (Central West), Akeem Dodson (New York), Bhim George (South East), Muhammad Ghous (Atlantic), Adrian Gordon (New York), Steve Massiah (New York), Aditya Mishra (Atlantic), Nauman Mustafa (North West), Japen Patel (South East), Gowkaran Roopnarine (Atlantic), Samarth Shah (North West), Usman Shuja (Central West).

USA U-19 squad: Salman Ahmad (South West), Shayan Abdulghani (South West), Abhijit Joshi (Central East), Cameron Mirza (New York), Prashanth Nair (New York), Amarnauth Persaud (New York), Mital Patel (Atlantic), Gurpreet Sandhu (South West), Greg Sewdial (New York), Hammad Shahid (South West), Pranay Suri (North West), Jodhbir Singh (North West), Trevor Singh (New York), Steven Taylor (South East).

USA Cricket: 18 players shortlisted for USA U-19 team

openingbat — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 04:23:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

According to a report published Thursday night on newyorkcricket.com, USACA has named a preliminary USA U-19 squad of 18 players from last weekend’s selection trials in New York. The final 14 that will compete in the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier must be submitted to the ICC by June 28.

Two players who were part of the USA U-19 squad that won the ICC Americas U-19 tournament in Florida last February did not make the final 18 – fast bowler Waleed Javed Karimullah and batsman Fahad Babar. Karimullah was the only player never selected in the starting XI in any of the USA U-19 team’s five matches in February while it was previously reported by DreamCricket that batsman Fahad Babar had withdrawn himself from consideration.

Image (right) - Steven Taylor in action at USA U-19 trials in New York on June 11. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket]

Aside from the 12 remaining players from February’s team, former USA U-19 vice-captain Greg Sewdial was named as expected in the list of 18 in his comeback from two surgeries on his left ankle. He was also joined by fast bowlers Sohaib Choudhry and Jasdeep Singh, left-arm spinner Prashanth Nair, all-rounder Amarnauth Persaud and wicketkeeper Prumjot Panesar.

Four players will be cut from the list of 18 to form the final 14-man squad. The 14-man squad will then play four 50-over warm-up matches against the West Indies U-19 in Florida next month before leaving for the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier, scheduled for July 28-August 9 in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

USA U-19 preliminary 18-man squad by region

Atlantic – Kalim Ahmed, Mital Patel, Jasdeep Singh

Central East – Sohaib Choudhry, Abhijit Joshi

Central West – None

New York – Cameron Mirza, Prashanth Nair, Amarnauth Persaud, Greg Sewdial, Trevor Singh

North East – None

North West – Prumjot Panesar (wk), Jodhbir Singh, Pranay Suri

South East – Steven Taylor (wk)

South West – Shayan Abdulghani, Salman Ahmad, Gurpreet Sandhu, Hammad Shahid

USA Cricket: USA U-19 to play four matches against West Indies U-19 prior to Ireland tour

openingbat — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:52:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

The USA U-19 squad will play four 50-over matches next month in preparation for their tour to Ireland for the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier. According to USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed, the matches will take place July 8, 10, 12 and 14 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The West Indies U-19 squad is scheduled to arrive in Florida on July 6 and leave on July 16. West Indies U-19 notched impressive victories over Australia U-19 during a series of matches played in Dubai this past April. West Indies U-19 beat Australia U-19 in two out of three Youth ODIs before winning a subsequent three-day Youth Test match by four wickets.

After the series of four matches against the West Indies U-19 team, the USA U-19 squad will continue training in Florida before departing for Ireland on the 19th. Mohamed said USA would likely have two warm-up games in Dublin before playing their first official match of the Qualifier on the 28th. From there, USA will play nine matches in 13 days and must finish in the top six to qualify for next year’s ICC U-19 World Cup in Australia.

The selectors have some interesting decisions to make after this weekend’s selection camp took place in New York. Greg Sewdial made his presence felt at the crease during a mini-trial game on Saturday in which he cracked three fours and a six before walking off unbeaten. Sewdial and Cameron Mirza were the most impressive of the batsmen on Saturday while left-arm orthodox spinners Shayan Abdulghani and Prashanth Nair stood out among the bowlers before the session was cut short by rain.

It was previously reported that Abhijit Joshi and Mital Patel would not attend the camp, but Gurpreet Sandhu and Fahad Babar also were not in attendance. Joshi and Patel were excused to continue with specialized training programs in India. According to a USACA administrator, Sandhu was excused in order to travel to India to obtain a visa for Ireland and the UK to be able to go to the tournament. Games will be split between Dublin in the south and Derry in Northern Ireland. Babar did not attend because he has apparently made himself unavailable to tour Ireland due to personal reasons.

Barring any fitness concerns, Sewdial now appears to be a shoe-in for the squad that will go to Ireland in a straight swap for Babar. Nair will have a tougher time forcing his way into the team. It may depend on the desire to have a third spinner who can turn the ball away from right-hand batsmen as Gurpreet Sandhu and Shayan Abdulghani both had strong showings at the ICC Americas U-19 tournament in February. Nair was invited to the USA U-19 selection camp in January, but was not yet eligible to play for USA based on residency requirements. However, he is now eligible according to a USACA source.

Leg spin and left-arm orthodox spin played a vital role in the success of the USA U-19 bowling attack during the 2009-10 cycle with Saqib Saleem, Yash Shah, Ryan Corns and Andy Mohammed making key contributions with the ball. The key difference is that Shah was the only specialist bowler of that group while the others doubled as genuine all-round options up the order.

Image (right) - Prashanth Nair (left) and Shayan Abdulghani (right) at USA U-19 selection trials in New York. If selected together, they could form a potent left-arm spin tag team. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

The same scenario is not likely to happen in the current USA U-19 lineup. Abdulghani was slotted to come in at number 11 against Canada, but never batted at the ICC Americas U-19 tournament while Sandhu made four runs batting once at seven against Canada and was not among the seven batsmen used in the first game against Argentina. Should he get selected for the squad and make it into a starting XI, Nair would likely play as a specialist spinner as well. Because the three aren’t considered genuine all-round options at the international U-19 level, the probability of all three featuring in the same XI is slim.

In addition to Nair, the other candidates who appear to have a slight chance at forcing their way into the team for the first time are Jasdeep Singh, Amarnauth Persaud and Akash Jagannathan. If the selectors prefer an extra seamer over another spinner for Irish conditions, Singh or Persaud would serve that purpose with their medium pace. Persaud is also considered by many in the New York area to be a handy all-round option, particularly because he bats left-handed. Right now, Steven Taylor and Patel are the only players in the squad who bat left-handed. If the selectors decide they want a reserve wicketkeeper for Taylor, or to allow Taylor to play as a specialist batsman, then Jagannathan could come into the frame as well. More than likely, only one out of Nair, Singh, Persaud and Jagannathan may get selected in the 14-man squad but all four have a solid chance of being in the initial list of 18.

A squad of 18 players is expected to be named later this week. According to a USACA source, the selectors will consult with USA U-19 head coach Robin Singh before the list is narrowed to the 14 that will go to Ireland. All countries must submit their final 14-man squad to the ICC by June 28.

USA Cricket: Sewdial ready to challenge for an invite to Ireland at USA U-19 trials

openingbat — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 12:24:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

Former USA U-19 vice-captain Greg Sewdial made a return to organized cricket last month after more than 15 months on the sidelines. This weekend at the USA U-19 trials in New York, he is eager for the opportunity to show selectors that he is worthy of a spot in the 14-man squad that will go to Ireland next month for the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier.

“I definitely think I have something to prove and I’ll always have that chip on my shoulder,” said Sewdial on Thursday. “People are always gonna write you off and say what they want to say. I basically disappeared from the cricketing world of New York and USA for over a year so I just want to come back strong and let people know what they missed.”

Sewdial was USA’s leading scorer at the 2010 ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand. However, he has been out of action since the end of that tournament due to a serious ankle injury. The 19-year-old first sustained the injury to his left ankle in May 2009 just a few days before the start of the 2009 U-19 National Tournament in New York. He decided to play through the injury during both of USA’s qualifying tournaments in Canada as well as at the World Cup, which exacerbated the damage to his ankle ligaments.

After returning from New Zealand last January, Sewdial waited until the end of his spring semester at Hofstra University before having surgery in May. The hope was that he would be back to normal after six months of rehab. Instead, he got the crushing news that a second surgery was needed.

Image (right) - Greg Sewdial file photo. [Courtesy: ICC/Bryan Vandenburgh]

“I was heartbroken,” said Sewdial. “I thought that one surgery, one shot, it was gonna be over with. I come to find out six months later when I went for a second opinion when my ankle was giving me some more issues, the doctor told me I may need some screws in here. A week later I took an MRI. The MRI turned out positive. I had the surgery two weeks later.”

The second surgery, performed in December, was deemed a success by Sewdial’s doctors but three more months of rehab meant he had to miss out on a chance to be a part of the ICC Americas title-winning USA U-19 squad in February. That left him itching to get back on the field.

“The hardest part was seeing all the scores online when the Under-19 team was playing and not being able to play,” said Sewdial. “I just want to leave whatever’s in the past in the past and just move forward.”

“I’m just hungry. I just want to go out there. Over a year of missed cricket feels like forever for me. With two operations, it was really something I’ve never experienced before. It could set you back or it could motivate you and I’m just trying my best to keep on the right path and let it motivate me to be even better than I was.”

Sewdial says that he needs to lose some weight he gained while being away from the field, but that the greater obstacle to being fit again is getting enough time out in the middle. He’s played four matches in the last month for Seven Star CC in New York’s Commonwealth League, making a couple of starts but no major scores.

“I’m definitely not 100% yet, but I’ll slowly be there. I’ve been going to the gym very often, like four or five days a week, just trying to rehab it as soon as possible. The main thing is I just need some batting practice and some real cricket practice to really find some form at least before any major tournament I play in. I just want to have that reassurance in myself that when the real time comes I can provide for the team.”

At this weekend’s trials, Sewdial hopes he can do enough to convince selectors that he’s “a leader, that I’m capable, I’m dependable” and that those attributes, along with his batting, make him a desirable player to have in the USA U-19 squad going to Ireland that will be attempting to qualify for a second straight ICC U-19 World Cup.

“I think the side that we have now will do good with an extra batsman in the middle order anyways,” said Sewdial. “I think if I were to go to Ireland, that would show some stability on paper at least. I think overall I’m just ready to go out there and make up for a year of lost cricket on my part.”

The USA U-19 trials are scheduled to take place June 11-12 at Idlewild Park in Queens, just around the corner from JFK Airport. The New York metro area received heavy rain overnight and more rain is in the forecast throughout Saturday and Sunday so it remains to be seen how much work the players will get to do outside.

An 18-man preliminary squad has to be sent from USACA to the ICC by Monday June 13 before the final list of 14 is submitted to the ICC on June 28. Cricket Association of Nepal released their country’s 18-man squad on June 1 for the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier. Among the players selected was Rahul Vishwakarma, who took 7 for 15 in a match against the USA senior team at ICC WCL Division Five in Nepal in February 2010. Vishwakarma was also a member of Nepal’s squad at the 2008 ICC U-19 World Cup in Malaysia where he played in all six of his country’s matches, taking 10 wickets as a 15-year-old in the event as Nepal lost to the West Indies in the final of the Plate Championship.

USA Cricket: Twenty20 Nationals moved from Dallas to NJ; 20 players invited to USA U-19 trials in NY

openingbat — Wed, 25 May 2011 23:56:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

The inaugural USACA Twenty20 Nationals has been shifted from Dallas to New Jersey according to USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed. The event will still be held on the same dates, June 17-19, but it means that the Atlantic Region now has three weeks to prepare for hosting the tournament.

“We were unable to come to an agreement on a final budget with the [Central West] region,” said Mohamed by telephone on Wednesday afternoon. Mohamed said that the decision to move the tournament to New Jersey was made by USACA President Gladstone Dainty.

However, an anonymous source close to the situation claims that Dainty made the decision to take the tournament out of the Central West Region as “retribution” for internal division within the USACA board. A report surfaced on May 13 which described opposing factions over the manner in which four people were appointed from USACA to the Cricket Holdings America LLC board.

Meanwhile, 20 players have been invited to participate in a training camp from June 11-12 in New York which will help decide the final 14-man squad going to Ireland for the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in July. Mohamed says that USA U-19 coach Robin Singh will not be present for the camp and that it will be run by USA selectors Sew Shivnarine, Sunny Khan and Abrar Ahmad.

Eight players who were not part of the USA U-19 squad that won the ICC Americas U-19 title in February received invites in addition to 12 of the 14 players who were part of the championship squad. According to Mohamed, USA U-19 captain Abhijit Joshi and fast bowler Mital Patel will not be attending the camp as they are both currently training in India.

Five of the eight players who have been invited to the camp – Sohaib Choudhry, Prashanth Nair, Krish Goel, Akash Jagannathan and Amarnauth Persaud – were also invited to a January selection camp prior to the selection of the team for the ICC Americas U-19 tournament in February but did not make the final squad. Jasdeep Singh and Prumjot Panesar are getting their first opportunity to try out for the team.

The remaining invite was given to Greg Sewdial, who will be attempting to force his way back into the USA U-19 squad for Ireland after an extended layoff from cricket. Sewdial was the vice-captain and leading scorer for USA at the 2010 ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand, but is trying to overcome a career threatening ankle injury that required a pair of surgeries in May and December of last year.

Mohamed also revealed that USACA is trying to negotiate a series of matches between USA U-19 and West Indies U-19 to be played in Florida. The target date for the matches is between July 6 and 16, prior to the USA U-19 team’s departure for Ireland. If a series can be organized between those dates, the USA U-19 team would remain in Florida for a few more days of training before leaving from Miami for Dublin on July 19. The ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier begins on July 28.

Players invited to USA U-19 selection camp by region (ICC Americas U-19 champion squad members in bold)

Atlantic: Kalim Ahmed, Waleed Javed Karimullah, Jasdeep Singh

Central East: Fahad Babar, Sohaib Choudhry

Central West: None

New York: Cameron Mirza, Prashanth Nair, Amarnauth Persaud, Greg Sewdial, Trevor Singh

North East: None

North West: Krish Goel, Akash Jagannathan (wk), Prumjot Panesar, Jodhbir Singh, Pranay Suri

South East: Steven Taylor (wk)

South West: Shayan Abdulghani, Salman Ahmad, Gurpreet Sandhu, Hammad Shahid

USA Cricket: Division restructuring could take place for ICC Americas in 2012

openingbat — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:53:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

ICC Americas is strongly considering a plan to restructure the top division in men’s and U-19 cricket to correct a competitive imbalance. The plan was discussed last weekend at the ICC Americas Regional Development Forum in Costa Rica and could be pushed through as early as 2012 according to USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed.

“There’s a new division alignment that’s coming up that was discussed. It needs to be confirmed but they’re gonna change the alignment,” said Mohamed. “Instead of six teams in Division One, it would be four. The winner of Division Two would go into Division One.”

“Division One for the Region would be USA, Canada, Bermuda and one team from Division Two. They would play T20 along with 50 overs. So it’s gonna be a combination of both formats in the Division One tournament.” The realignment would not apply to women’s cricket or any junior cricket below the U-19 level within the region.

The move would address what some in the region feel is a lack of competitiveness outside the traditional top three. This was particularly evident at this February’s ICC Americas U-19 Division One tournament where USA, Canada and Bermuda routinely demolished the bottom three finishers, Cayman Islands, Bahamas and Argentina. The lone exception was a tight match between Bermuda and Cayman Islands which Bermuda won by four runs but lopsided contests sometimes finished in less than three hours and many administrators questioned how much either side benefitted from such contests.

Mohamed also said that the qualification process for the ICC U-19 World Cup would be undergoing changes. The process would be similar to how teams qualified prior to the creation of the global qualifier event in 2009.

“ICC have changed the qualification from 2014 for the U-19 World Cup,” said Mohamed. “There will be 16 teams. It will be the 10 Full Members and one team from each of the regionals. We usually have from the regionals two people would qualify to go to the global qualifier. There would not be that global qualifier anymore. The regional winner would automatically qualify. So you’ve got the 10 Full members, each of the regional winners, that would be 15, plus the host team and that would be from 2014.”

According to an ESPN Media Zone press release in March, the UAE will be hosting the 2014 ICC U-19 World Cup. UAE finished fifth in the 10-team Asian Cricket Council U-19 Elite Cup this past February, failing to reach the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland. However, Dubai does have some of the best facilities on offer since the opening of the ICC Global Cricket Academy in October of last year.

ICC Global Development Manager Tim Anderson and West Indies Cricket Board Vice President David Cameron were in attendance at the meetings in Costa Rica and Mohamed said that there is a proposal to form a regional Associate team at both the U-19 and U-15 level that would compete in West Indies domestic tournaments beginning in 2012. Not only would it be a more competitive squad than accepting an individual Associate team, but Mohamed says that from a financial standpoint, it could potentially alleviate costs from the individual Associate boards. If a combined team of Associate players played as an Americas regional team, Mohamed says that ICC Americas might cover any costs rather than the respective national boards for each player representing an Americas regional team.

Another piece of news from Mohamed is that the USA is being considered to host the ICC World Cricket League Division Four tournament due to take place in the summer of 2012. Mohamed feels that USA has a good chance of hosting the event, either in Fort Lauderdale or Los Angeles.

“It would be good to get a tournament like that,” said Mohamed. USA, Denmark, Nepal and Tanzania will be joined in Division Four by the top two finishers from Division Five, due to be held in Singapore next February.

The chances of Nepal being awarded the tournament are slim after riots marred USA’s group stage match against Nepal at Division Five in Kathmandu last year. In the wake of an ICC inquiry, Cricket Association of Nepal accepted an ICC directive to not host further international cricket at the Tribhuvan University Stadium until remedial measures were carried out.

Denmark only has one turf pitch in the country while Tanzania hosted Division Four in 2008 and no team except Singapore has been given the chance to host a WCL event more than once since the WCL was started in 2007. Singapore hosted Division Six in 2009 and the decision to make them the host of next year’s Division Five was viewed by some as a move to right a sense of injustice done to Singapore at Division Five in 2010.

Riots by the home crowd in the USA vs. Nepal game forced a lengthy delay to that match. The reduction of overs and revised target upon resumption of play helped Nepal finish above Singapore by a .004 margin on net run rate to qualify for WCL Division Four in Italy last August. Singapore had hoped to replace Nepal in 2010 ICC WCL Division Four but that plea was rejected by the ICC.

USA Cricket: T20 championship trimmed to three-day event; U-19 WC Qualifier split between Dublin and Derry

openingbat — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:35:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

The inaugural USACA Twenty20 championship will now take place from June 17-19 in Dallas instead of 17-20 as was previously reported. According to tournament director Ramesh Thyagarajan of the North Texas Cricket Association, the tournament will take place at Russell Creek Park in the northern suburb of Plano with all eight teams playing simultaneously on four grounds located at the park.

The move to cut the tournament by a day was reportedly done as a cost-cutting measure. Thyagarajan has said that the tournament will be staged with an Eastern and Western Conference group round-robin format over the first two days.

On Friday June 17, each team will play two matches followed by a final group match on Saturday June 18. On Sunday June 19, the first place team from the Western Conference will play the first place team from the Eastern Conference for the tournament title. Corresponding second, third and fourth place teams in each conference will also play a third place, fifth place and seventh place match.

In related news, USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed said last week that USACA would look to hold a training camp, most likely on July 9 and 10, for players selected from the USACA Twenty20 championship to represent USA at the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 championship in Florida from July 17-24.

As for the U-19 team, Mohamed said that since there will not be a domestic national tournament held prior to the team’s participation in the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland, USACA will likely hold a training camp on June 11 and 12 to help select a final squad. Mohamed anticipates that 20 players will be invited – the 14-man squad that won the ICC Americas U-19 championship in February as well as six other contenders decided by selectors – before a final squad is picked to go to Ireland.

The ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier will take place from July 28-August 9 with matches to be played in Dublin and Derry. According to one source, the ten participating teams will each play their first four matches in Dublin before the tournament shifts northwest to Derry in Northern Ireland for the final five days of group play. The top six teams will advance to the 2012 ICC U-19 World Cup in Australia.

USA Cricket: Dates released for 2011 USACA tournaments

openingbat — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:37:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

The USA Cricket Association has released a preliminary schedule of domestic tournament fixtures for 2011. The schedule of events, obtained from USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed, includes the newly formed U-17 National Championship and senior men’s Twenty20 tournaments. According to the sites listed, the USACA U-19 National Championship slated for autumn in Los Angeles is the only tournament that will be played on turf wickets.

The practice of having Eastern and Western Conference Tournaments over three days has been eliminated for 2011 in favor of having all eight regions converging on one site to play in four-day events. According to Mohamed, this was aimed as a cost-cutting mechanism as it will eliminate the need to organize a super league tournament later in the year to decide a national champion for senior, junior and women’s categories.

The first tournament of the year is the inaugural U-17 National Championship which is set to be staged on Memorial Day weekend from May 27 to 30 in Orlando, Fla. It will be used to help select a team for the first ever ICC Americas U-17 tournament that is slated for early July.

The inaugural USACA Men’s Twenty20 Championship will be held from June 17 to 20 in Dallas, Texas. This could be the first step in an attempt to pick a separate Twenty20 squad for USA which would have a different look than the team that has represented USA in 50-over matches at recent World Cricket League tournaments. USA will be competing in the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 in July. The event was due to be held in Toronto, but multiple sources have indicated that it will be shifted to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and held in late July. Two spots will be up for grabs for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE.

The USACA Women’s Championship will be held on the east coast for the first time. It is anticipated that the event will be held in New York and New Jersey in a joint effort between the New York and Atlantic Regions on Independence Day weekend from July 1 to 4. It will provide an opportunity for younger players to break into the USA Women’s team that will be competing at the Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh in November.

The USACA U-15 National Championship is targeted for July 8 to 11 in Connecticut. The state hosted the USACA U-19 Eastern Conference tournament in 2010. USA’s U-15 team will be playing in the ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division in Canada this August.

The USACA Senior Nationals tournament is scheduled for Labor Day weekend in Dallas. The 50-over event will take place from September 2 to 5.

The USACA Junior Nationals will not be held until after the USA U-19 team has participated in the ICC U-19 World Cup Global Qualifier in Ireland from July 28 to August 9. Mohamed stated that it would be held in Los Angeles but that a date had not been determined. He indicated that it would likely be held on a school holiday weekend in September or October. A quick look at the calendar shows that Columbus Day weekend is the most probable date. Despite not having any tournament before the USA U-19 team travels to Ireland, a camp may be organized in early June in order to prepare the team and offer a chance for reserve players to push for selection.