Photo Credit: USA Cricket
- USA Cricket Men’s Under 19 National Championship from April 4th – 11th in Houston, Texas sees the return of cricket at the National Level
- All 8 teams name their captains to lead their sides
- Player Bubble and safety precautions being taken for full duration of the event in Texas
- Amendment to Groups sees West Zone Reds and West Zone Blues switch from Group A to Group B respectively
- Championships ‘eagerly awaited in the community with a great sense of excitement and pride building in all zones.’
The USA Cricket Men’s Under 19 National Championships commences next week, as the return to cricket at a National level will come with 8 teams competing at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston, Texas from April 4th – 11th for the crown of Men’s Under 19 National Champions.
Today, having already named the full squads for all 8 teams, USA Cricket is pleased to announce that all 8 teams have named their Team Captains for the duration of the tournament alongside a change to the groups for the tournament and further details about the logistics and player bubble in place for Texas.
Team Captains
Alongside the previously announced panel of Head Coaches and Team Managers, the captains have been named for the U19 National Championships as follows.
| Team | Head Coach | Manager | Team Captain |
| Colts | Unni Krishnan | Vijay Chukka | Slade van Staden |
| East Zone | Huburn Evans | Dervon Wallace | Mohamed Shaw |
| Mid-Atlantic Zone | Earl Daley | Shrey Patel | Nitish Mahesh |
| Midwest Zone | Jonathan Dees | Zygmin Patel | Mohit Patel |
| South Zone | Rohaan Gosala | Orville Hall | Danush Kaveripakam |
| South West Zone | Dhandapani Devasaran | Manish Parikh | Ali Sheikh |
| West Zone Blues | Raghuram Boorada | Sunil Mehra | Sahil Kancherla |
| West Zone Reds | Rusty Theron | Aalok Desai | Sanjay Krishnamurthi |
To see the squad selections in full, please click here.
Group Amendment
USA Cricket has announced a change to the previously announced groups with the West Zone Reds and West Zone Blues switching places in the Groups with a view to achieving the best competitive balance for the tournament and giving appropriate opportunities for all players towards selection for the USA Under 19s team from the tournament.
The eight teams are still separated into 2 groups of 4 where they will play 3 group matches each. The groups are still separated on the same principles of i) placing the West Zone Reds and West Zone Blues into two different groups and ii) to ensure that all conference sides were separated where possible.
Group A
Colts
Mid-Atlantic Zone
South Zone
West Zone Blues
Group B
East Zone
Midwest Zone
South West Zone
West Zone Reds
Tournament Logistics
USA Cricket has implemented a Player Bubble environment for the duration of the
tournament for all players and support staff at both the ground and the tournament hotel. There has also been mandatory testing for all participants prior to their travel to Texas for the tournament. The main priority is to mitigate risk and USA Cricket aims to safeguard every participant in line with our COVID-19 protocols.
Any family members or supporters who wish to attend the tournament in Texas will need to adhere to a strict no-contact policy with participants and adhere to social distancing and other guidelines as directed by USA Cricket.
Schedule
The 16 matches of the National Championships will all be played on turf wickets at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston, Texas with the matches taking place between April 5th and 10th, with a training/practice day scheduled for the 4th and departure day on the 11th.
All matches start at 10am local time. (11am EST)
Chair of the Cricket Committee and USA Cricket Board Member, Sushil Nadkarni, said,
“We have been hugely encouraged by the interest and response from across the country in recent weeks. It’s clear this National Championships is eagerly awaited in the community and there’s a great sense of excitement and pride building in all zones as the preparations for all teams move into their final stages.”
“The Men’s Under 19 National Championships is the culmination of a huge piece of work, through the ongoing Pandemic, that has seen us safely hold 14 Zonal Trial events over a 6 month period. These events combined with the new selection panels we have appointed for all of our Zones, and the naming of the Training Groups at Men’s, Youth and Women’s levels is massive progress and we now have the foundational pathways in place that we have so sorely needed for many years.”
On the change to the groups, Nadkarni continued, “We are absolutely committed to ensuring that we have the best competitive balance for this critically important tournament. One of the main outcomes from this National Championship is in helping our selectors pick the strongest possible USA Under 19 team, who are seeking to qualify for the ICC Under 19 World Cup later in the summer for the first time since 2010. The change in groups will ensure the best balance between the teams and also have the least possible impact on scheduling and preparations.”
“On behalf of USA Cricket, I would like to extend our best wishes to all of the participating players, managers and coaches for the duration of the National Championships. Represent well, enjoy and good luck in all your matches.”
Name of Author: 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.
