USA Cricket: Five USA players named to ICC Americas Regional U-19 Development Team

openingbat — Tue, 22 May 2012 23:12:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna (on Twitter)

Correction: This article has been updated at 5:55 p.m. EST on May 24, 2012, to reflect that the ICC Americas U-19 Development team will be participating in the 50-over segment of the WICB U-19 Regional Tournament. It was earlier reported that they would be participating in a Twenty20 segment of the WICB U-19 Regional Tournament. DreamCricket.com apologizes for the error.

Five USA players have been named to an ICC Americas U-19 Development team which will take part in the West Indies Cricket Board Regional U-19 tournament this August in Barbados. USA’s five players were the second most from any one country for the 16-player squad with Canada taking six spots according to a team list obtained from ICC Americas Regional Development Manager Martin Vieira. Cameron Mirza, Mital Patel, Gurpreet Sandhu, Hammad Shahid and Steven Taylor are the players who have been selected from the USA to participate.

Image (right) USA U-19 batsman Cameron Mirza celebrates after reaching his century against Argentina in February 2011. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

The squad has been formed to participate in the 50-over segment of the WICB Regional U-19 tournament, which runs from August 19-29, but not the three-day cricket segment. The ICC Americas U-19 Development Team 16-player squad will spend a week in Barbados ahead of the tournament for a training camp run by head coach Andy Pick and assistant coach Wendell Coppin. At the conclusion of the camp, the squad will be trimmed to 14 before playing its first match.

The players who have been invited to participate from Canada are Manny Aulakh, Nitish Kumar, Akash Shah, Darren Ramsammy, Nikhil Dutta and Rayankhan Pathan. Cayman Islands will send Sacha de Alwis and Darren Cato. Bermuda’s Josh Gilbert and Kamau Leverock, who were both part of the Bermuda senior team that participated in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Dubai, will be traveling to Barbados. Rudolph Fox of the Bahamas has also been included in the squad.

Mirza was the MVP of the ICC Americas U-19 Tournament in February 2011 when USA went undefeated to win the tournament. He led USA with 193 runs in four innings at an average of 193 and finished second overall in runs. His best score was 118 not out against Argentina. He currently attends Loughborough University in England which is an MCC University.

Mital Patel led USA with 16 wickets at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier and tied for seventh overall. His best performance was a return of 6 for 35 against Afghanistan, which included a hat-trick. That spell earned him the DreamCricket.com New Inning Foundation USA Cricket Award for Individual Performance of the Year. The medium pacer currently attends university in India and also trains with Baroda’s age group teams.

Image (left) - Mital Patel holds the match ball after taking 6 for 35, including a hat-trick, against Afghanistan at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

Gurpreet Sandhu tied for the tournament lead at the 2011 ICC Americas tournament with 12 wickets in four innings. The leg-spinner’s best performance was a spell of 5 for 7 against Bermuda, which at the time were the joint-best ever figures recorded for a USA U-19 player until Patel’s performance against Afghanistan.

Hammad Shahid was the most economical pace bowler for the USA U-19 team in 2011. Across two tournaments, he bowled 72.2 overs with an economy rate of 2.89 runs per over. He also took 18 wickets at an average of 11.61. He has been touted as one of USA’s best pace bowling prospects for the last four years and has been invited to multiple selection trials for the USA senior team.

Steven Taylor was USA’s leading run scorer at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier and tied for second overall with 455 runs in nine innings including two centuries. Taylor was the recipient of DreamCricket.com’s New Inning Foundation USA Cricket Awards in 2011 for Batsman of the Year, Junior Cricketer of the Year and Cricketer of the Year.

Image (right) - Steven Taylor raises his bat after completing a century against Papua New Guinea at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland. [Courtesy: Peter Della Penna/DreamCricket.com]

In March, Taylor finished second on the USA senior team at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE with 179 runs in nine innings including a best of 40 in USA’s upset win over Scotland.

USA Cricketer : ICC Americas Cricket, USA cricket, Hammad Shahid

USA Cricket: Five USA players named to ICC Americas Regional U-19 Development Team