ALL–ISLAND Spalding Cup and urban Grace Shield schoolboy cricket champions Excelsior High and May Day High are set to compete in the Tampa Youth Twenty20 (T20) cricket tournament scheduled for November 27 to December 1 in Tampa, Florida.

However Tacky High, winners of last year’s inaugural competition, will not be there.

Sheldon Pryce, coach of Tacky High, said his team was unable to make the trip for next month’s tournament — which will embrace the Thanksgiving weekend – for “a number of reasons”, with the main one being a shortage of funds.

Excelsior High were among the competitors last year. Back then, Excelsior’s cricket coach Kirkland Bailey voiced dissatisfaction with what he said was poor organisation.

However, Bailey told the Jamaica Observer this week that he had seen enough evidence to suggest that next month’s competition “will be much better organised” than was the case a year ago.

Both Bailey and Stanford Davis, principal of Mandeville-based, first-time participants May Day High, described the Tampa tournament as an outstanding opportunity for young cricketers to gain experience and exposure.

They also expect it will provide valuable preparation for the schoolboy cricket season early next year.

“We [May Day High] have a very young team, and this will help them to get more confidence,” explained Davis.

For Bailey, “the benefits should far outweigh any negatives…”

Tournament Coordinator Delroy Bent said three Florida-based cricket academies are expected to join May Day and Excelsior in the five-team championship, which he expects to grow from strength to strength in years to come.

Noting that the United States advanced beyond the group stage of the ICC T20 World Cup hosted in the Caribbean and the USA earlier this year, a buoyant Bent declared “cricket in America is on the rise”.

Bent applauded the United States Embassy in Kingston for its cooperation in facilitating travel arrangements for cricketers and support staff from the two Jamaican schools.