USA Cricket: USA Men's T20 squad and USA U-19 squads released

openingbat — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:28:00 GMT

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By Peter Della Penna

USACA has announced the squads that will be competing at the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 Tournament from July 18-23 in Florida and the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland from July 28-August 9.

In a huge shakeup from the team that finished in last place at ICC World Cricket League Division Three in Hong Kong, 10 of the 14 squad members from that tournament have been replaced. The only four holdovers are Steve Massiah, Orlando Baker, Muhammad Ghous and Usman Shuja. The biggest omission was USA’s vice-captain in Hong Kong, Sushil Nadkarni, while five uncapped players have been included.

Timroy Allen returns to the team after recovering from an injury suffered at ICC WCL Division Four in Italy last August while Adrian Gordon, Aditya Mishra, Gowkaran Roopnarine and Akeem Dodson have all been recalled to represent USA. Gordon also last appeared for the team in Italy while Dodson and Roopnarine last played for USA in 2008. Mishra played for USA last year at The Pearls Cup against Jamaica. Atlantic Region opening partners Roopnarine and Mishra were the two standout batsmen at the 2011 USACA Twenty20 Nationals.

The five first time selections in the squad are Bhim George and Japen Patel from the South East, Nauman Mustafa and Samarth Shah from the North West, and Quasen Alfred from New York. The inclusion of Mustafa means that USA has curiously selected three wicketkeeper-batsmen for the team along with Roopnarine and Dodson.

Of the players missing out from Hong Kong besides Nadkarni, Aditya Thyagarajan and Ritesh Kadu are both currently injured while Durale Forrest, Carl Wright, Rashard Marshall and Lennox Cush did not participate in the Twenty20 Nationals. Sources have indicated that Cush has stopped playing cricket to focus on his rentals business in Guyana.

Ryan Corns had a poor Twenty20 Nationals (13 runs in three innings) and was dropped after just one tour with USA. However several of the players who made the squad ahead of him, including George (14 runs in two innings) and Patel (21 runs in two innings), did not fare much better. All three players excelled in their local leagues and in their inter-league tournaments prior to the Twenty20 Nationals. Corns was named MVP of the Central West Twenty20 inter-league tournament while Patel won the MVP of the South East 50-over inter-league tournament and George was named Best Batsman in the same South East tournament.

Nadkarni also scored heavy in the Central West inter-league tournament and turned in 65 runs in New Jersey at the Twenty20 Nationals, good for fourth overall in the event as he captained the Central West to a runner-up finish. Unfortunately, it appears he is paying the price for a subpar performance in Hong Kong in which he failed to score a half-century in his six innings and had a rough time in the field with several drops.

Asif Khan was harshly dropped from the USA lineup after a solid showing on his debut tour in Hong Kong where the left-arm spinner took the second most wickets for the team with six, behind Kevin Darlington with eight. Khan was also a batting hero in the two-wicket win over Oman, scoring 31 not out while hitting the winning runs as part of a 71-run unbeaten ninth wicket partnership with Shuja, and finished the tour with the second highest batting average on the team behind Massiah. At the Twenty20 Nationals, Khan was one of seven bowlers tied for fifth with four wickets. Darlington, who is now 39, was also left out of the USA squad.

In the final 14-player list for the U-19 team, three changes are now confirmed from the squad that won the ICC Americas U-19 tournament in February. New York Region players Greg Sewdial, Prashanth Nair and Amarnauth Persaud have all been named in the squad while Central East batsman Fahad Babar and Atlantic Region bowlers Kalim Ahmed and Waleed Javed Karimullah are the three who have not made the cut this time around.

Sewdial was always expected to be included upon proving his fitness after scoring the most runs for USA at the 2010 ICC U-19 World Cup. Nair is a very talented left-arm spinner while Persaud presents options with both bat and ball. He is also still young enough to potentially represent USA in the next U-19 World Cup cycle for 2014 along with Steven Taylor.

The captains and team management for both squads have yet to be announced.

USA Men’s squad: Quasen Alfred (New York), Timroy Allen (South East), Orlando Baker (Central West), Akeem Dodson (New York), Bhim George (South East), Muhammad Ghous (Atlantic), Adrian Gordon (New York), Steve Massiah (New York), Aditya Mishra (Atlantic), Nauman Mustafa (North West), Japen Patel (South East), Gowkaran Roopnarine (Atlantic), Samarth Shah (North West), Usman Shuja (Central West).

USA U-19 squad: Salman Ahmad (South West), Shayan Abdulghani (South West), Abhijit Joshi (Central East), Cameron Mirza (New York), Prashanth Nair (New York), Amarnauth Persaud (New York), Mital Patel (Atlantic), Gurpreet Sandhu (South West), Greg Sewdial (New York), Hammad Shahid (South West), Pranay Suri (North West), Jodhbir Singh (North West), Trevor Singh (New York), Steven Taylor (South East).

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USA Cricket: USA Men's T20 squad and USA U-19 squads released