USA Cricket announces Men’s Senior & Youth Zonal training groups

Photo Credit: USA Cricket

USA Cricket is pleased to announce the establishment of Men’s Senior and Youth Zonal Training Groups for all six of the USA Cricket Zones.

This follows a significant amount of work undertaken over recent months by the Zonal Selection Panels to facilitate the selection of more than 275 players across all 12 of the Zonal Training Groups announced today. All of the players recently named in the 44-player National Men’s Training Group, except those currently based overseas, are also named within their respective Zonal Training Groups.

Following the completion of 11 of the 14 scheduled Men’s Senior and Youth Zonal Trials, and supported by all other available performance data and knowledge, the Training Groups announced today are very much a starting point, and the Zonal Selection Panels and USA Cricket coaching staff will work with and closely monitor the progress of all of these Training Groups on a regular basis. As appropriate, the Selection Panels may add players to, or remove players from, their relevant Zonal Training Groups based on their ongoing skill development, performance, fitness, and attitude, and players may also graduate from a Zonal Training Group to the National Training Group where appropriate. 

The Zonal Training Groups will give players the opportunity to train together in regionalized hubs and develop all aspects of their game with USA Cricket support staff and structures. These are only the initial Training Groups and there will be the opportunity for further players to progress into the groups, where justified, as the national system continues to evolve and support the increased monitoring of performances across local leagues and other domestic cricket (including a full Minor League Cricket competition) during what is hoped to be a full calendar of cricket in 2021.

Former Team USA Men’s National Team Captain, Steve Massiah, who is part of the East Zone Men’s Selection Panel, and the National Men’s Youth Selection Panel, said, “The naming of the Zonal Training Groups for Men and Men’s Youth is a critically important part in the further development of the USA Cricket domestic cricket structure and will provide another clear step in the pathway for the next generation of Team USA players. The players in these Training Groups will no doubt make up the majority of the players who will play in the 2021  National Championships. I would like to congratulate all of the players named, and wish everyone the best for their training ahead of the 2021 season.” 

USA Men’s Youth Coach, Kevin Darlington said, “I am really pleased with the naming of our six Youth Zonal Training Groups at this time. Training together within the regionalized hubs will give all of the boys a good head-start in improving their skill and fitness levels ahead of what is a huge year for our Under 19 Group. We have a clear target and focus on winning a place at the Under 19 Cricket World Cup in 2022, through the qualifier on home-soil in August, and I can’t wait to get going with all of our Zones.”

USA Cricket Operations Director, Richard Done added, “We are building better pathways and more regular training opportunities than ever before for cricketers of ability in the USA. Our Zonal training groups, in combination with the National Men’s and Women’s, and Women’s Youth Training Groups, will involve the best 350 cricketers in the United States, and they will be able to train together in smaller regionalized hubs across the country. We acknowledge that 2020 was a challenging year and that there may be players around the country who didn’t get an opportunity needed to impress the selectors, and, for that reason, these training groups are a baseline only and we will add to them as and when other players are identified. We are committed to bringing the very best of our talented players together more often at a zonal level and, ultimately, to giving them the opportunities they need to compete at higher levels domestically and challenge for places in USA Cricket National Teams at Men’s, Women’s and Youth levels.”

Photo Credit: ICC

Men’s Zonal Training Groups 2021

Name of Author: USA Cricket

USA Cricket

USA Cricket (USAC) is the governing body for cricket in the United States, overseeing the national men’s, women’s, and youth teams. It also manages Major League Cricket, the premier domestic Twenty20 competition in the U.S.