USA announces U-19 squad, appoints Robin Singh as coach.

openingbat — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 04:22:00 GMT

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The USA Cricket Association yesterday announced the squad that will represent the USA at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Americas Region Division 1 Under-19 tournament scheduled for February 6 to 13, 2011 at Brian Piccolo and Central Broward Regional Parks, in Lauderhill, FL. The winner and runner-up teams from the ICC Americas tournament will qualify to participate in the ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier Tournament, scheduled for Ireland, in July 2011.

The team was selected from among the boys invited to a selection camp that took place in Florida on January 22 and 23. 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 are part of the squad.

Pranay Suri, who took eight wickets in two games at trial matches played in Los Angeles last month including 5 for 28 against South East was also an easy choice. So was Jodhbir Singh, his teammate from North West. Spin bowlers Shayan Abdulghani and Gurpreet Sandhu from South West have both been picked.

Opening batsman Fahad Babar was picked from the Central East along with captain Abhijit Joshi. Also selected were Trevor Singh and Cameron Mirza from New York. From Atlantic, allrounders Kalim Ahmed and Waleed J Karimullah made the team. Atlantic allrounder Mital Patel, who was not among the original list of invitees to the Florida camp is also in the squad.

Mital Patel's name was among those suggested by his region for invitation to the Florida camp. However, his name was not in the original list issued by USACA. According to a USACA board member reached by DreamCricket.com, Mital Patel was scouted by coach Sew Shivnarine during a practice session held at a New York indoor facility. Upon Shivnarine's request, USACA made a decision to accommodate Mital in the Florida camp. Once in Florida, Mital impressed the selectors and was unanimously selected, the board member said.

According to one source, the Florida camp was expanded from the original list published on January 8th and Mital was not the only one to be accommodated. However, the USACA General Manager did not respond to an email regarding additional invitees.

Separately, USACA announced that Mumbai Indians coach Robin Singh (right) has been tapped as a national USA coach replacing Sew Shivnarain. Robin Singh, born in Trinidad and Tobago, spent most of his cricketing career in India, playing in 1 Test and 136 ODIs for that country.

In a media release, USACA noted that Robin Singh's role may eventually be expanded to include coaching USA national teams in other upcoming ICC sanctioned tournaments. Robin Singh coached Deccan Chargers in the inaugural IPL tournament and has helped the India national team as a specialist fielding coach. Singh is not a stranger to cricket in USA, having played for New Jersey Fire team in the inaugural edition of the Pro Cricket League.

USA U-19 Squad:

Salman Ahmad, Abhijit Joshi (Captain), Hammad Shahid, Steven Taylor (Vice-Captain, Wkpr), Pranay Suri, Gurpreet Sandhu, Shayan Abdul Ghani, Fahad Babar, Trevor Singh, Cameron Mirza, Kalim Ahmed, Waleed J. Karimullah, Jodhbir Singh, Mital Patel.

Reserves: Sohaib Choudhry, Krishneal Goel, Akash Jagannathan and Amarnauth Persaud.

Coach: Robin Singh

USA Cricketer : Steven Taylor, Fahad Babar

USA announces U-19 squad, appoints Robin Singh as coach.