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By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

USACA has selected the 14 players who will represent the USA against Bermuda and Canada in Florida next month at the 2012 ICC Americas U-18 Match Play Camp. The squad for the 50-over double round-robin event was announced on Monday night. It contains six players who have previously represented USA at the U-15 or U-19 level.

Steven Taylor will captain the squad, a strong indication that he will hold onto the role in 2013 when a USA U-19 squad will compete in the ICC Americas U-19 Division One Tournament for a chance to qualify for the 2014 ICC U-19 World Cup in the UAE.

Amarnauth Persaud, a teammate of Taylor’s on the USA U-19 team last summer at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland, was named in the squad. Persaud was one of the top scorers this season in the NY Public Schools Athletic League high school cricket competition while representing Martin Van Buren High School.

Image (right) - Steven Taylor will captain the USA U-18 team next month in Florida. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

The vice-captain will be Dave Parikh, who captained the USA U-15 squad to a first place finish last August at the ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division Tournament in Winnipeg, Canada. Parikh was also named Tournament MVP of that event.

Parikh is joined by four other North West Region players. Krish Goel was in the list of probables for the USA U-19 squad in 2011 and is a former USA U-15 teammate of Steven Taylor and Persaud. Roshan Varadarajan was Taylor’s vice-captain on the USA U-15 team in 2009 and previously captained the North West Region to an undefeated title-run at the 2010 USACA U-15 National Tournament while Arsh Buch, another USA U-15 representative, was the Tournament MVP at the 2010 USACA U-15 National Tournament. Vibhav Altekar, who represented the USA U-15 team in 2011, scored a double-century at the 2011 USCA U-15 National Tournament.

Three other New York Region players join Persaud on the team. Zahib Tariq emerged as a solid prospect for USA at the 2010 USACA U-15 National Championship for his all-round abilities. Just last week he scored 28 not out and took 6 for 13 in a quarterfinal win for FDR High School over Persaud’s Martin Van Buren High School in the NY PSAL Playoffs. Randall Wilson, who took 2 for 34 and scored 51 not out in a quarterfinal win for John Adams High School over Abraham Lincoln, has scored three centuries in the last two years at USACA U-15 National Tournaments.

Omar Afridi is also from the New York Region and in 2011 was named Scotland’s U-17 Player of the Year. He previously represented Scotland at the U-13 and U-15 levels but his family moved to the USA last summer. He is able to play for USA without having to wait four years by virtue of his US citizenship and because he did not represent Scotland at the U-19 level or above.

Ryan Persaud was selected from the Atlantic Region. He was the leading wicket-taker at the 2010 USACA U-15 National Tournament. Shakeel Ahmad, the younger brother of USA U-19 player Salman Ahmad, is the lone representative from the South West Region. Ahmad scored a century this past weekend for Citrus Valley CC against Hollywood CC in Division Two of the Southern California Cricket Association and currently averages 44.40 in Division Two matches this season. Karan Patel and Omari Williams hail from the Central West and South East Regions respectively. Williams made headlines last year as a 15-year-old when he scored 128 in a match for Osswald Park against Myrtle Grove in the South Florida Cricket Alliance Premier Division.

A coach, manager and physio have yet to be named by USACA. The ICC Americas U-18 Match Play Camp runs from July 9-14 at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Fla.

USA U-18 Squad: Steven Taylor (captain, South East), Dave Parikh (vice-captain, North West), Omar Afridi (New York), Shakeel Ahmad (South West), Vibhav Altekar (North West), Arsh Buch (North West), Krish Goel (North West), Karan Patel (Central West), Amarnauth Persaud (New York), Ryan Persaud (Atlantic), Zahib Tariq (New York), Roshan Varadarajan (North West), Omari Williams (South East), Randall Wilson (New York).