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By Peter Della Penna
The USA Cricket Association has released a preliminary schedule of
domestic tournament fixtures for 2011. The schedule of events, obtained
from USACA General Manager Manaf Mohamed, includes the newly formed U-17
National Championship and senior men’s Twenty20 tournaments. According
to the sites listed, the USACA U-19 National Championship slated for
autumn in Los Angeles is the only tournament that will be played on turf
wickets.
The practice of having Eastern and Western
Conference Tournaments over three days has been eliminated for 2011 in
favor of having all eight regions converging on one site to play in
four-day events. According to Mohamed, this was aimed as a cost-cutting
mechanism as it will eliminate the need to organize a super league
tournament later in the year to decide a national champion for senior,
junior and women’s categories.
The first tournament of the year is the inaugural U-17 National
Championship which is set to be staged on Memorial Day weekend from May
27 to 30 in Orlando, Fla. It will be used to help select a team for the
first ever ICC Americas U-17 tournament that is slated for early July.
The inaugural USACA Men’s Twenty20 Championship will be held from
June 17 to 20 in Dallas, Texas. This could be the first step in an
attempt to pick a separate Twenty20 squad for USA which would have a
different look than the team that has represented USA in 50-over matches
at recent World Cricket League tournaments. USA will be competing in
the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 in July. The event was due to be
held in Toronto, but multiple sources have indicated that it will be
shifted to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and held in late July. Two spots will
be up for grabs for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE.
The USACA Women’s Championship will be held on the east coast for the
first time. It is anticipated that the event will be held in New York
and New Jersey in a joint effort between the New York and Atlantic
Regions on Independence Day weekend from July 1 to 4. It will provide an
opportunity for younger players to break into the USA Women’s team that
will be competing at the Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh in
November.
The USACA U-15 National Championship is targeted for July 8 to 11 in
Connecticut. The state hosted the USACA U-19 Eastern Conference
tournament in 2010. USA’s U-15 team will be playing in the ICC Americas
U-15 Northern Division in Canada this August.
The USACA Senior Nationals tournament is scheduled for Labor Day
weekend in Dallas. The 50-over event will take place from September 2 to
5.
The USACA Junior Nationals will not be held until after the USA U-19
team has participated in the ICC U-19 World Cup Global Qualifier in
Ireland from July 28 to August 9. Mohamed stated that it would be held
in Los Angeles but that a date had not been determined. He indicated
that it would likely be held on a school holiday weekend in September or
October. A quick look at the calendar shows that Columbus Day weekend
is the most probable date. Despite not having any tournament before the
USA U-19 team travels to Ireland, a camp may be organized in early June
in order to prepare the team and offer a chance for reserve players to
push for selection.