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By Peter Della Penna
The preparation for USA’s U-19 team is gearing up after a list of 21
players was finalized for a selection camp to take place in Florida on
January 22 and 23. At the conclusion of the camp, 14 players will be selected to represent USA in the ICC Americas U-19 Division One tournament next month in Fort Lauderdale. Five players were invited from New York, the most for
any region, while no one from North East made the cut.
As
expected, four players – Salman Ahmad, Abhijit Joshi, Hammad Shahid and
Steven Taylor –who represented USA at the 2010 U-19 World Cup in New
Zealand were invited to the camp. Pranay Suri, who took eight wickets in
two games at trial matches played last week in Los Angeles including 5
for 28 against South East, was also included. He was joined by three of
his North West teammates – Krish Goel, Akash Jagannathan and Jodhbir
Singh. Jagannathan was invited to a 20-man selection camp in December of
2009 but did not make the final 15-man squad that went to New Zealand.
Image right: Akash Jagannathan is has a chance to make his first USA U-19 team later this month. [Copyright - DreamCricket.com]
In addition to Ahmad and Shahid, spin bowlers Shayan Abdulghani and
Gurpreet Sandhu have also been invited from the South West. A notable
omission is off-spinner Viraj Sehgal, who took 6 for 39 against the
Central West team at the U-19 Western Conference in August for South
West.
USA national selector Sunny Khan said that it was tough deciding who
to invite to the camp because none of the three selectors attended
either the U-19 Eastern Conference or U-19 Western Conference
tournaments in August to be able to evaluate players and instead relied
on scorecards and feedback from coaches. When asked why the selectors
did not attend, Khan said it was because they were not invited to the
tournaments.
Opening
batsman Fahad Babar and fast bowler Sohaib Choudhry received invites
from the Central East along with Joshi. Babar has represented the
Central East senior team as an opening batsman for the last two seasons
and is considered a very strong candidate to make the USA U-19 team.
Central East fast bowler Kishen Patel did not receive an invitation to
the camp after taking the most wickets for his team at the U-19 Western
Conference, including 5 for 42 against Central West.
Image left: Shayan Abdulghani has a chance to join his brother
Hammad Shahid on the USA U-19 team. [Copyright - DreamCricket.com]
The lone representative from Central West is Parth Bhakta, a left-arm
spinner who stood out by taking 3 for 24 against North West and 5 for
44 against Central East at the U-19 Western Conference. He is one of
three left-arm spinners invited to the camp along with Abdulghani and
Prashanth Nair, one of the five New York players.
Joining Nair from New York are Foisal Muhammad, Amarnauth Persaud,
Trevor Singh and Cameron Mirza. Left off the invite list is the highly
impressive Zahib Tariq, who excelled both at the U-15 National
Tournament and the U-19 Eastern Conference this year, taking 4 for 16
and top-scoring with 48 vs. the U-19 Atlantic team as New York defended a
total of 127 to win by 7 runs.
The South East and Atlantic regions both have two representatives.
Taylor and Ryan Ramnarine have been invited from Florida. It is believed
that both players will be healthy enough to participate after being
involved in a serious car accident last week in Fort Lauderdale when
they were driving back home after their flight to Junior Nationals was
canceled. Waleed Javed Karimullah and Kalim Ahmed are the two Atlantic
representatives.
Players invited to USA U-19 selection camp by region
Atlantic: Kalim Ahmed, Waleed Javed Karimullah
Central East: Fahad Babar, Sohaib Choudhry, Abhijit Joshi
Central West: Parth Bhakta
New York: Cameron Mirza, Foisal Muhammad, Prashanth Nair, Amarnauth Persaud, Trevor Singh
North West: Krish Goel, Akash Jagannathan (wk), Jodhbir Singh, Pranay Suri
South East: Ryan Ramnarine, Steven Taylor (wk)
South West: Shayan Abdulghani, Salman Ahmad, Gurpreet Sandhu, Hammad Shahid