USA Cricket Under 19 training and selection camp starts this weekend in California

Photo Credit: USA Cricket

• Under 19 Camp replacement player named with 25 players split into ‘U19 Blues’ and ‘U19 Reds’ squads for the week
• The full Under 19 Camp match schedule announced, includes matches against Bay Area MiLC teams
• High quality camp planned with support of MLC to act as strong preparation in crucial year for Team USA Men’s Under 19 program

USA Cricket and Major League Cricket (MLC) have today announced further details for the upcoming Training and Selection Camp for the Under 19 Men’s Training Group commencing tomorrow. USA Cricket is pleased to outline further details surrounding the itinerary for the camp, a full schedule of matches and the final 25 player list that will participate in the 10-day camp being held in the Bay Area on the West Coast from June 11th – June 20th. The Camp is being organized and conducted in partnership with Major League Cricket (MLC) who are providing coaching, facilities and financial support for the camp as part of their targeted investment in the next generation of young American cricketers.

The USA Cricket Under 19 National Selection Panel selected two new players as replacements for Aditya Gupta, who is recovering from a knee injury sustained in the last match of the Men’s Under 19 National Championships in April, and Slade van Staden, who is currently completing his final year of schooling in South Africa. Of those replacements, only Rahul Jariwala was available to attend, so the Camp will go ahead with 25 players, split into two squads of 12 players with Jariwala rotating between the squads. 

Both Gupta and van Staden remain eligible to be selected for the Men’s Under 19 National team for the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, currently scheduled to be played in the USA in late August. 

The selectors have confirmed two squads, the U19 Blues and U19 Reds named below, to each play five matches in nine days against strong local Bay Area opposition, including two matches against each other in the middle of the training camp. The schedule includes matches against all three of the Bay Area MiLC teams, the Blazers, Strikers and Grizzlies, as well as a combined MiLC U21 Bay Area All Stars team. 

The schedule of matches is:

• 12 June: U19 Blues v East Bay Blazers at Morgan Hill
• 12 June: U19 Reds v Golden State Grizzlies at Santa Clara
• 13 June: U19 Reds v MiLC U21 Bay Area All Stars at Morgan Hill
• 16 June: U19 Blues v U19 Reds at Morgan Hill
• 17 June: U19 Reds v U19 Blues at Morgan Hill
• 19 June: U19 Blues v East Bay Blazers at Morgan Hill
• 19 June: U19 Reds v Silicon Valley Strikers at Santa Clara
• 20 June: U19 Blues v MiLC U21 Bay Area All Stars at Morgan Hill

Outside of the scheduled matches, the players will be tested across various cricket and physical components, including fitness and physical capacities, by USA Cricket Physical Performance Manager, Burt Cockley, and USA Cricket Lead Athletic Trainer, Asha Moseley De Freitas, as well as fielding, wicketkeeping, batting and bowling skills. The coaching staff for the camp includes USA National Men’s Coach, J. Arunkumar, USA National U19 Coach, Kevin Darlington, and MLC coaches, David White and Rusty Theron. Julia Price, USA National Women’s Coach and former Australia Women’s wicketkeeper, will also join the coaching staff at the Camp. 

The matches and testing together will provide the selectors attending the Camp, Amer Afzaluddin, Sajith Fernando, and Jannisar Khan with an extensive amount of new and supplementary information to complete their task of choosing the best U19 cricketers for the USA Men’s U19 Team in due course.

The young players will also get to take in a visit to the San Francisco 49ers training facility at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Friday June 18th as well as utilizing the 49ers gym facilities during the week on non-match days.

Chair of the Under 19 Selection Panel, Amer Afzaluddin, said, “The schedule provides each U19 squad five matches in nine days, which closely mirrors the ICC Americas Men’s Under 19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier format of six matches in 10 days. We need to see the players under similar pressure to that they will experience at the event in order to select the best 14 to represent USA Cricket and maximize our chance of qualifying for the ICC Men’s Under 19 CWC in 2022.

This Under 19 Training Group is brim full of talent, but as we know talent is only one part of the equation that leads to a successful cricket team. We need to ensure that the players selected display the best attitude, fitness, and skills, in order to perform at their peak when needed. As selectors, we are looking forward to seeing the players put through their paces at the Under 19 Camp.”

USA Cricket Operations Director, Richard Done, supported that view, “USA Cricket hasn’t qualified for the ICC Men’s Under 19 CWC since 2010, and it is time now for us to reverse that trend. The Men’s Under 19 CWC provides players, particularly those in developing nations, the opportunity to test and benchmark themselves against their peers across the world, and to understand how they need to develop their own game to be genuinely competitive on the global stage.

This has been proven with the development of players in other nations that have been to the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup. For example, England’s current ODI captain, Eoin Morgan, Ireland’s Captain, Andrew Balbirnie, and vice-captain, Paul Stirling all played for Ireland in the U19 CWC in 2010 or 2012, and world leading spinners, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman played for Afghanistan more recently. These players have played a major role in the continued development of both nations during their elevation and journey into the Full Member world of cricket and this is a path that USA Cricket is eager to follow as outlined in our Foundational Plan. If we look also at the progress of our own Steven Taylor, who came through our last U19 World Cup appearance in 2010, the importance of this group of players spending time together, competing at the highest level and advancing through to the Men’s Under 19 CWC cannot be overstated.”

The two Under 19 squads are as follows:

*Rahul Jariwala has been included as an additional player and will act as reserve wicket-keeper for both the Blue and Red teams.

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.