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By Peter Della Penna

USACA is planning to have an 18-man selection camp later this month in Florida in order to pick a final squad of 14 players for the ICC Americas U-19 Division One tournament due to take place from February 7-12 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. According to USACA Cricket Committee chairman Krish Prasad, players will be flown to Florida to undergo final evaluation by the selectors on the weekend of January 22 and 23.

“The selectors already saw the west coast guys. Between [chief selector Sew Shivnarine] and them, they know the east coast guys and invite them with the remaining guys that we have leftover from last year and get a 14-man squad with four stand-by players for a February tournament because February’s quickly approaching so we gotta do what we gotta do to get the best possible team,” said Prasad.

An indoor camp had been tentatively planned for January 8 and 9 in New York for players from the New York, Atlantic and North East regions, but that plan has been scrapped.

“The indoor place is not available number one and it doesn’t make sense for us to bring guys in here and then we’ve gotta pick another group of guys to go to Florida,” said Prasad. “We’re going to take about 18 or so guys and have the selectors come over there and pick the team.”

“It’s approximately 18. There might be one or two more guys, but they know who the guys are they’re looking for. I mean they have the guys from last year and they’re gonna invite some more guys and get the 18 guys and have the 14 final players and the four stand-by players,” said Prasad. “We don’t want to bring a whole bunch of guys just to take 14 guys.”

Salman Ahmad, Abhijit Joshi, Hammad Shahid and Steven Taylor are expected to be included in the 18 after participating in the 2010 U-19 World Cup for USA. Prasad said that the final group of players invited to Florida probably won’t be finalized until this weekend due to a variety of eligibility concerns based on age and residency that are currently being addressed by selectors.

Image: Former 2010 U-19 World Cup squad member and South West U-19 captain Hammad Shahid is expected to be part of the selection camp later this month in Florida. [Copyright - DreamCricket.com]

“We were going under the assumption that the cutoff date is September 1, 1990,” said Prasad, referring to the ICC deadline for Associate level players hoping to participate in the 2012 U-19 World Cup and any ICC qualification tournaments leading up to the event. “The cutoff date is no longer 1990, it’s 1991. For whatever reason, we didn’t pay attention to that or we were misled. It’s our own fault. We were going by the wrong dates.”

“Guys like Andy Mohammed, [Regis] Burton and [Kavishwar] Bridgepaul who we thought were going to be included, now we found out they’re not going to be included and of course we have some guys who have not met the four-year [residency] criteria and we don’t want to go through the same scenario that we went through with Neil McGarrell because the ICC seems to be very tough on that.”

A much bigger issue than the confusion about the age deadline is determining who is eligible based on residency. Prasad says that selection decisions are currently being hampered because of unreliable information supplied from the regions and the individual players about their residency status. Players who were believed to be eligible do not meet the criteria after a more thorough examination of documents.

“It’s a whole different ball game when you have to go through the [residency] qualification and guys have not been giving us a lot of correct information,” said Prasad. “A lot of guys said they’ve been here for seven years, they came on such and such a date. Now when we ask them for the proof because Manaf [Mohamed] has to get the proof, we found out that they’ve not been telling us exactly what’s in their passport. So we’re having problems with qualifications.”

“What has been holding us up a lot is the selectors have been going out upon themselves and trying to get information. If you call up certain regional people, they’re telling you this guy has been here for eight years, been here for six years. Now when you get a guy’s information and you call the guy and you say fax me this, this and this, then the guy faxes it and you’ve found out that he’s not been here for the time required. Then who’re you gonna blame? If you gotta pick the guys, you’ve gotta make sure you have the right information before you send 18 guys to Florida and you find four of them don’t meet the criteria.”

USACA stated in a press release on December 28 that 24 players would be invited later this month to an U-19 selection camp in Florida, but apparently the ineligibility of numerous unidentified players has resulted in reducing the number of players that are due to be brought to Florida for the camp. In addition to the players who are too old to compete, there is also a growing list of players that have been found to be ineligible based on the residency requirement.

“Shiv and Abrar [Ahmad] and Sunny [Khan] have been doing a very good job because these guys are constantly trying to get hold of the guys to make sure what they tell them is what they have on paper,” said Prasad. “I know they’ve ruled out about six or eight guys because the guys told them, ‘Yes. We’re good. We’ve been here for six, seven years.’ Then we get information that it’s not true.”

As for the camp itself, Prasad hopes that the players don’t face the same kinds of weather and logistical problems that caused the cancelation of the 2010 Junior Nationals in Los Angeles last month.

“We’re hoping that like everything else, we get good weather,” said Prasad. “The three selectors were told to be there.” The coach and manager for this year’s USA U-19 team have not been appointed as of yet. Prasad said that will take place after the final 14-man USA U-19 squad has been picked.