Jamaica’s National Under-17 male team is set to depart the island today to participate in the CWI Regional Under-17 Championship in Trinidad and Tobago from July 6–14.

Jamaica’s first and only hold on this regional youth cricket title came in 2012, since then the performances have not been as impressive. However, this record has not fazed current captain Sanjay Walker of Manchester High.

“It is good that we won in 2012 and this team is aiming to repeat that performance. However, all the previous results are history, we can only control our future by doing all the right things which we are practising now. The team will have to deliver on what we have learned and follow the game plan for each game. It’s all about playing positive cricket,” he said.

Walker, who is a first year Under-17 player, was the captain of the Jamaica Under-15 team, which finished third in the 2018 CWI Regional Under-15 Championship hosted in Jamaica. By virtue of their exploits in that tournament, Walker and Jordan Johnson were selected to the CWI Under-15 team, which toured the United Kingdom in the summer last year.

There are four members of last year’s Under-15 squad included in this Under-17 team — Johnson, Adrian Weir, Steven Wedderburn, and the skipper Walker.

“It is good that I have my Under-15 teammates with me at this new level, it makes me comfortable,” said Walker.

He also expressed confidence in the four members of the Under-17 sqaud from last year, who are also included in this team. They are Brandon English, Andel Gordon, Nicholas Lewin, and O’Neil Roberts.

“Their experience is good, it comes out particularly when we have team discussions in relation to the pitches in Trinidad and how they played last year,” Walker added.

Meanwhile, young Johnson, who starred for Wolmer’s Boys in the Under-14 and Under-16 competitions during the recently concluded schoolboy cricket season, is hoping to carry over that form into the regional tournament.

“I am proud of myself (for winning so many awards) because I have put in a lot of hard work into my two years at Wolmer’s, so it’s a nice feeling that my hard work is paying-off. So I am feeling confident in myself that I can do well in the Under-17 tournament, and I think I am going to do well… the aim is just to keep working hard and hope to come out with more positive results like these awards,” the 14-year-old all-rounder told the Jamaica Observer during the ISSA Gracekennedy schoolboy cricket Awards ceremony at Knutsford Court Hotel on Tuesday.

For team coach David Bernard Jr, who was in charge of the U-17 team for last year’s tournament, it is a chance to improve on last year’s finish.

“We have an impressive mix of talented young men. They are eager to do well and quite hungry to learn the right things, most of all, they all want to pull together as a team to achieve greatness. The preparation this year has been good and there are some key performance indicators to be used in gauging the success of our participation. We just need to deliver,” Bernard Jr, a former national all-rounder noted.

This 50-over tournament will see Jamaica facing their five other regional counterparts – defending champions Barbados, Guyana, Leeward Islands, hosts Trinidad & Tobago, and the Windward Islands – in a round-robin format, where each team face the other once. The team to accumulate the most points at the end of the five rounds will be crowned champion.

Squad: Sanjay Walker (c), Manchester High; Brandon English, Excelsior; Steven Wedderburn, Kingston College; Shemar Philips, Wolmer’s Boys’; Stewart Thompson, Vere Technical; Oshaun Ennis, Tacky High; Jose Northover, Calabar; Ronaldo McKay, Excelsior; Oneil Roberts, Manchester High; Andel Gordon, St Mary Technical, Nicholas Lewin, St George’s College; Jahieem Bartley, Manchester High; Jordan Johnson, Wolmer’s Boys’; Adrian Weir, Vere Technical.

Reserves: Delano Collins, Calabar; Chevonie Grant, Clarendon; Justin Beckford, Wolmer’s Boys’; Alifah Cox, Campion.