Ready, set, go for Under-19s

HEAVY RAIN over the past two weeks has made preparations for the TCL West Indies Under-19 cricket competition difficult, but officials are confident of three weeks of good cricket. Speaking from St Vincent, Lennox John, president of the Windward Islands Cricket Board, said all systems were in place for the opening matches of the three-day segment today. “We have everything in place and we are hoping for good weather,” said John as he awaited the arrival of the Barbados team at the ET Joshua Airport.

“We have been having a lot of rain and some of the grounds are saturated. We are hoping the weather will hold and we will be able to have a good three weeks of cricket. “The fields are very heavy and it must be said they are not ideal, due to the bad weather. With the rain, as well, the grass has been growing, but we have been doing our best to get everything in place.” The Bajans, under new skipper Nicholas Squires, arrived after 2 pm and went straight to their base at Roy’s Inn, on the outskirts of the capital, Kingstown.

Today they will start the tournament against the home team Windwards at Arnos Vale, the Test match and World Cup 2007 facility near the airport. In the other matches, Jamaica battle Trinidad and Tobago at Stubbs and Guyana face Leewards at Sion Hill. Barbados are the defending champions in the three-day tournament, a title they won in Jamaica last year. The three-day matches will be played from today to August 15, and after that the One-Day series will be contested on August 17 and 18, with the final on August 19.

This is the first time St Vincent will be staging the Under-19 tournament. They successfully staged the Under-15 championships in 2003 and 2004. “We have handled the Under-15 tournaments quite well and the infrastructure and logistics are in place for this tournament,” John said. “We regularly host First-Class matches in the regional senior tournament, and also international tours, so we have the systems in place. “There is a feel of the tournament, but there is not a huge level of excitement. Generally, interest is moderate and we are happy to play a part in the development of the future of West Indies cricket,” John said.

THE TEAMS:
Barbados: Nicholas Squires (captain), Omar Phillips, Nicholai Parris, Shamarh Brooks, Javon Searles, Orman Kellman, Steve Pinder, Nikolai Charles, Jabar Niles, Andre Gill, Neval Grazette, Johnathan Carter, Kemar Roach, Mark Trotman; Livy Coppin (manager), Dexter Toppin (coach)

Windwards: Earvon Fredericks (captain), Heron Campbell, Andre Fletcher, Ronald Ettiene, Nelon Pascal, Trevor Walcott, Hanif Alexander, Laurent Francois, Donwell Hector, Kevin James, Gary Daniel, Tyrone Touissaint, Russell Emmanuel, Dalton Polius; Julian Charles (manager), Raymond Duncan (coach)

Umpires: Goaland Greaves, Francis Maurice; Match referee: George T Browne.

Guyana: Leon Johnson (captain), Andrew Williams, Gajanand Singh, Richard Ramdeen, Veerasammy Permaul, Jason Sripal, Jeremy Gordon, Clive Andries, Delroy Jacobs, Krishna Deosarran, David Wallace, Ryan Hercules, Norman Fredericks, Christopher Barnwell; Alvin Johnson (manager), Hubern Evans (coach)

Jamaica: Jamie Trenchfield (captain), Albert Gopie, Ziggy Levy, Zaniffe Fowler, Damion Ebanks, Jeffery Scott, Nickoy Samuels, Andre McCarthy, Andre Russell, Ricardo Sitcheron, Omar Brooks, Alton Beckford, Dennis Bulli, Cordell Simpson; Fritz Harris (manager), Junior Bennett (coach)

Leeward Islands: Javia Liburd (Captain) Justin Athanaze, Chad Hampson, Orlando Peters, John Lambourdiere, Colin Hamer, Montcin Hodge, Dillon Skellekie, Javal Hodge, Jacques Taylor, Terrance Ward, Alan Powell, Akito Willett, Kieran Powell; Noel Guishard (manager), John Archibald (coach)

Trinidad and Tobago: Jason Mohammed (captain), Kavesh Kantasingh, Adrian Bharath, Mario Belcon, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Barclay, Deon Bennett, Javed Mohammed, Jeewan Ramroop, Rishi Bachan, Dane Teelucksingh, Darren Bravo, William Perkins; Roland Sampath (manager), Anthony Gray (coach)

ITINERARY:
Three-day championship— 
August 1-3: Barbados vs Windward Islands at Arnos Vale I; Guyana vs Leeward Islands at Sion Hill; Jamaica vs Trinidad and Tobago at Stubbs
August 5-7: Jamaica vs Windward Islands at Sion Hill; Leeward Islands vs Trinidad and Tobago at Arnos Vale I; Barbados vs Guyana at Stubbs
August 9-11: Barbados vs Jamaica at Arnos Vale I; Guyana vs Trinidad and Tobago at Sion Hill;
Leeward Islands vs Windward Islands at Arnos Vale II
August 13-16: Final at Arnos Vale I
Play-off matches at Sion Hill and Stubbs (August 13-15)

Limited-overs championship
August 17: Match 1—  3rd place vs 6th place at Arnos Vale I; Match 2 —  4th place vs 5th place at Sion Hill
August 18— Match 3 —  1st place vs Winner match 1 at Arnos Vale I; Match 4 —  2nd place vs  Winner match 2 at Sion Hill; Loser match 1 vs Loser match 2 at Arnos Vale II
August 19—  Final at Arnos Vale I