Vikash Mohan will lead the National Under-19 cricket team to St Kitts today to compete in the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional Under-19 tournament from Friday to August 20.
In the tournament, three-day matches and 50-over matches will be contested. T&T will battle Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands in the three-day format, which runs from Friday to August 7. An ICC Americas U-20 team will then join the party for the 50-over segment from August 10 to 20.Since the 50-over competition began in 1998, T&T has won the most titles (five). In the three-day format, Guyana has been the superior team, winning on 13 occasions. T&T are tied for second position along with Barbados with nine wins.
In last year's competition, T&T finished a disappointing fifth in the 50-over competition and third in the three-day competition. A mixture of experience and talented new faces will make the trip to St Kitts. The team includes all-rounders Clevon Kalawan and Bryan Boodram, both of whom were a part of the national U-17 team that won the WICB Tobago House of Assembly Regional Under-17 50-over tournament in Tobago from July 1 to 7.Six players from last year's squad will make their return to the unit. Mohan, Jovan Ali, Al Small, Andy Gobin, Brian Christmas and vice-captain Jeremy Solozano were all part of the 2012 team. Coach Kelvin Williams believes T&T can be successful in the tournament.
"The team has all-round ability, well balanced attack and quality batsmen such as Brian Christmas, Vikash Mohan and Jeremy Solozano." Williams also mentioned he was satisfied with what he saw from the newcomers and the players who play premiership cricket will strenghthen the squad.T&T will play Jamaica in round one of the three-day competition, starting on Friday.
SQUAD: Vikash Mohan (Captain), Jeremy Solozano (Vice Captain), Brian Christmas, Andy Gobin, Tion Webster, Camilio Carimbocas, Bryan Boodram, Brandon Ramdial, Clevon Kalawan, Al Small, Jesse Bootan, Jovan Ali, Bryan Charles, Justin Joseph, Kelvin Williams (Coach), Reserve: Brian Pegus
Round 1 Fixtures: Friday-21
T&T vs Jamaica at EGSC Molyneaux
Barbados vs Guyana at Verchilds
Leeward Islands vs Windwards at Conaree