TRINIDAD and Tobago are ready to defend their title in the Under-19 three-day cricket tournament, which bowled off yesterday in St. Kitts. Guyana will also defend their 50-over title, with that format beginning on Tuesday, August 15.
The three-day competition will feature teams from six territories while in the 50-over competition the ICC Americas will field a team for a group of seven tournament.
Four venues will be used over the next six weeks to effectively host both formats, with competition scheduled to end on Monday, August 28. The three-day format of this tournament will see the addition of two rounds for a total of five, as opposed to the three-round format used in previous years.
Following the Windies win in the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh last year, the team is gearing up for the World Cup Championships in New Zealand next year. Rawl Lewis, the officer in charge of youth development at Cricket West Indies, noted this tournament as an important part of the calendar of events.
“The Under-19 tournament is an integral part of the development of cricket in the West Indies. It is the final stage before first-class cricket and many of our top players hone their skills here,” he said.
Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, one of the young and upcoming players on the Windies senior team, is a prime example of this. ShimronHetmeyer, former captain of the Under-19 team which secured the championship trophy last year, has also featured at the top of the order for the Windies test team as of late.
Below are the fixtures:
Round 1, July 24-26 — Trinidad and Tobago versus Windward Islands at Conaree, Leeward Islands versus Guyana at Verchilds and Barbados versus Jamaica at St. Pauls.
Round 2, July 28-30 — Guyana versus Trinidad and Tobago at St. Pauls, Jamaica versus Windward Islands at Verchilds and Leeward Islands versus Barbados at Molineux.
Round 3, August 1-3 — Trinidad and Tobago versus Jamaica at Molineux, Guyana versus Barbados at Verchilds and Leeward Islands versus Windward Islands at St. Pauls.
Round 4, August 6-8 — Barbados versus Trinidad and Tobago at Molineux, Leeward Islands versus Jamaica at Warner Park; Windward Islands versus Guyana at St. Pauls.
Round 5, Aug 10-12 — Leeward Islands versus Trinidad and Tobago at Verchilds, Barbados versus Windward Islands at St. Pauls and Jamaica versus Guyana at Conaree.
The Windward Islands team is captained by Saint Lucia’s Johnnel Eugene. The remainder of the squad reads: Johan Jeremiah (vice-captain), Grenada; Lee Louisy, Dominica; Kimani Melius and Dane Edward (Saint Lucia); Rayan Williams, Dillon Douglas, Jeremy Layne, Serlron Williams and Tijorn Pope (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines); Tahj Tavernier, Jahsean Alexander and DanealDupigny (Dominica); and Shermill Lewis (Grenada).
The reserves are Donald Mc Donald and Jeron Noel (Grenada), Micah Joseph (Dominica), and Craig Elisee (Saint Lucia).