Officials hoping for talent exposé in youth tournament
ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — West Indies Cricket authorities are hoping the Regional Under-19 Championship unearths the talent capable of helping the Caribbean side defend its title at the next ICC Youth World Cup.
The tournament bowls off in St Vincent from July 27 to August 21, and will be played under the three-day and 50-overs formats. However, while just three rounds will be contested in the longer format, teams will play seven rounds in the one-day phase.
WICB cricket operations manager Roland Holder said it was important that the preparation for the region’s title defence started in earnest from early.
“Being the team that will be defending the title, the bullseye will be on our Under-19s, so we have to once again start putting together the building blocks for a strong side that will be tough to beat,” Holder said.
“Our success in this year’s tournament should hopefully inspire the next group of players and make them hungry for similar success when they see all the excitement that was generated after this year’s team won.
“They should be eager to play and the players should see this tournament as an opportunity to start the process. No one is guaranteed a spot, so it’s about them putting in the hard work and doing it on the field when the time comes.”
Traditional teams Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago and Windward Islands will do battle in the three-day format from July 27 to August 6, before being joined by an ICC Americas side for the one-day competition.
Guyana, the defending champions in both formats, open the three-day competition against Jamaica at Park Hill, while Trinidad and Tobago meet perennial arch-rivals Barbados at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.
Windward Islands and Leeward Islands tackle each other at Sion Hill.
In the first round of the 50-overs competition, Guyana take on ICC Americas at Arnos Vale, Jamaica meet T&T at Sion Hill, while Barbados and Leewards clash at Park Hill.
Teams will play each other once in a round-robin format with the two top teams qualifying for the final at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.
