ST GEORGE'S–For­mer West In­dies leg-spin­ner Rawl Lewis says the WICB Re­gion­al Un­der-15 tour­na­ment, which start­ed in Grena­da yes­ter­day, pro­vides a plat­form to un­cov­er the "depth of tal­ent that ex­ists in the re­gion".

Lewis, now WICB project of­fi­cer for ju­nior crick­et, says the tour­na­ment al­so gives of­fi­cials an in­di­ca­tion on where to place the em­pha­sis "in the de­vel­op­ment cy­cle".

The Tour­na­ment, in­to its 21st year, is be­ing con­test­ed un­der a round-robin for­mat, fea­tur­ing five rounds of match­es with the team ac­cu­mu­lat­ing the most points be­ing de­clared cham­pi­ons.

"Hav­ing re­gion­al match­es for play­ers in this age group is al­so ex­treme­ly valu­able and pro­duc­tive for us be­cause it will give a clear un­der­stand­ing about the depth of tal­ent that ex­ists in the re­gion," said Lewis, al­so a for­mer Wind­ward Is­lands cap­tain.

"So we know where we need to place the em­pha­sis in the de­vel­op­ment cy­cle, as the play­ers work to move up through the age groups in their re­spec­tive ter­ri­to­ries."

Guyana cap­tured the ti­tle last year on home soil by top­ping the points ta­ble, fol­low­ing vic­to­ries over Lee­ward Is­lands, Ja­maica and Wind­wards, and in spite of no-re­sults against Trinidad & To­ba­go and Bar­ba­dos.

"This com­pe­ti­tion gives our ju­nior play­ers an op­por­tu­ni­ty ear­ly in their de­vel­op­ment to show­case their abil­i­ty on the re­gion­al stage and test them­selves against the best play­ers in their age group," said Lewis.

In first round match­es, Guyana faced Wind­ward Is­lands at Progress Park, Bar­ba­dos met Trinidad & To­ba­go at La Sagesse and Ja­maica tack­led Lee­ward Is­lands at the Tan­teen Recre­ation Ground.

The Re­gion­al Un­der-15 tour­na­ment com­menced in 1996 with then hosts T&T tak­ing the in­au­gur­al ti­tle.

They hold the record for the most RU15 ti­tles with sev­en, al­so win­ning the ti­tle in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2010 and 2013.