USA Cricket is pleased to announce the schedule for the remaining nine legs of the Men’s Senior & Youth Zonal Trials that will take place across eight states during October and November, starting this weekend in Somerset, New Jersey.
Dates are confirmed for 8 of the 9 remaining Zonal Trials with action confirmed for the next 4 consecutive weekends, including a trio of simultaneous events on the weekend of October 31st/November 1st in Georgia, Maryland and Texas. The only trial with a date yet to be confirmed is in Albany, New York, due to the local travel advisory restrictions recently announced by the Governor of New York.
As stated in the USA Cricket Return to Play Guidelines, our first priority is to follow any State or local guidelines in reducing the spread of COVID-19. Particularly during this period of conducting Zonal Trials, we are regularly monitoring for any advisories that might restrict the use of facilities or travel. Therefore we will hope to confirm a date when safely possible for the Zonal Trial in Albany, New York.
Five trials have already taken place over the last two weekends with great talent throughout, most recently in North Carolina and Illinois after the opening three trials in New York, St. Louis and Seattle respectively. USA Cricket had more than 1,200 player nominations from 66 Leagues and 70 Academies which the USA Zonal Selectors narrowed down to invite 30 players to attend each of the 14 Men’s and 14 Men’s Youth Trials.
Impressive talent on show for the Illinois & North Carolina legs of the USA Cricket Zonal Trials in spite of some challenging weather in both Chicago + Raleigh!! ?️
That's 5 of the 14 trials completed, 9 more to go, next up are Albany, New York & New Jersey?#WeAreUSACricket?? pic.twitter.com/3SgRVPAJMM
— USA Cricket (@usacricket) October 20, 2020
All trials continue to take place over a full day and involve an assessment of fitness and skills both in individual and team scenarios, which is closely observed by USA Cricket representatives and selectors and captured on video for further review. Participants are then allocated into smaller groups in order to meet the COVID protocols that have been developed specifically for these trials and to ensure that they each have a sufficient opportunity to showcase their talent.
USA Cricket Operations Director, Richard Done said, “We’ve been really pleased with the first two weekends of the USA Cricket Men’s and Youth Zonal Trials, with all five events so far having been well run and attended. We would like to thank all players, coaches, volunteers, venues as well as all the clubs, leagues and academies involved in making these events a success. We still have nine further events to complete across the country and the COVID-19 Pandemic continues to present challenges, so we will need to be flexible in our approach to the scheduling of the remaining events, with the Albany date still unconfirmed for the moment. Our priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of all those participating and if we need to amend the schedule to ensure that, we will. We are looking forward to nine more safe events, giving the opportunity for some of the best talent across America to show off their skills.”
At the conclusion of the trials, the new Zonal Selection Panels will name extended Zonal squads for all six Zones. These squads will benefit from ongoing monitoring, training and coaching with USA Cricket Coaches and Strength & Conditioning staff.
The current schedule for the remaining Zonal Trials is as follows.
USA Cricket Men’s and Youth Zonal Trials
Dates | Zone | Location |
Sat 24 Oct / Sun 25 Oct | Mid-Atlantic | Somerset, New Jersey |
Sat 31 Oct / Sun 1 Nov | Southwest | Dallas, Texas |
Sat 31 Oct / Sun 1 Nov | Mid-Atlantic | Maryland |
Sat 31 Oct / Sun 1 Nov | South | Atlanta, Georgia |
Sat 7 Nov / Sun 8 Nov | Southwest | Houston, Texas |
Sat 7 Nov / Sun 8 Nov | West | Bay Area, California |
Sat 14 Nov / Sun 15 Nov | South | Tampa, Florida |
Sat 14 Nov / Sun 15 Nov | West | Los Angeles, California |
TBC | East | Albany, New York |