- Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston, Texas will play host to the historic first USA Cricket U19 National Championship from April 4th – 11th
- 8 teams with the best young cricketers from across the United States will each play a minimum of 4 matches of 50 Overs cricket
USA Cricket is very pleased to announce that the first ever USA Cricket Under 19 National Championships will be played at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston, Texas. The tournament will be played from April 5th – 11th and will bring together the best young male cricketers in the country.
Squads
There will be 8 squads of 14 players each selected by the National & Zonal Men’s Youth Selection Panels in the coming weeks, with the teams confirmed as the following;
- East Zone
- Mid-Atlantic Zone
- South Zone
- Midwest Zone
- South West Zone
- West Zone Blues
- West Zone Reds
- Colts
All six USA Cricket Zones will be represented by one side each, with the exception of the West Zone, who’s current strength in depth in Youth cricket has meant the USA Cricket Committee has recommended splitting the Zone into two teams. This means the West Zone ‘Blues’ & the West Zone ‘Reds’ will be selected featuring the best 28 cricketers from the West Zone, and then allocated appropriately across the two squads.
The eighth squad will be a ‘Colts’ team made up of the best remaining cricketers from across the country, with no geographical barriers upon selection. The two additional sides are being added to the 6 Zones to ensure that the lack of cricket in recent times due to the COVID-19 pandemic does not count against our young cricketers, and to attempt to give as broad an opportunity as possible to the best young players in the country, whatever region they come from.
The USA Cricket Men’s Under 19 National Championship
Format
The eight teams will be separated into two groups of 4 where they will play 3 group matches each, with the top 2 teams progressing to the Under 19 National Championship Semi-Finals, where 4 teams will play out for a place in the Grand Final that will be played on April 11th to decide the first ever National Champions. The bottom two teams will progress to the plate semi-finals and also complete cross-over classification matches.
With a 3rd place-play off for the losing semi-finalists, this format will ensure all 8 teams play an equal amount of 5 matches apiece. In keeping with the preparation for the Under 19 World Cup Qualifier, all matches will be played in the 50 Overs format.
USA Cricket Operations Director, Richard Done said, “The commencement of National Championships is something we have indicated within the USA Cricket Foundational Plan as being a key development for the growth of our pathways at every level. We are delighted to be able to confirm the first tournament, in what is going to be a busy cricketing year in 2021, with the Under 19 National Championship being the first time that USA Cricket has run National Championships since our formation. We will be bringing the best 100+ young cricketers together for a competitive week of cricket in fantastic facilities in Houston, and we have been working very hard to ensure that we have everything in place to give the best opportunities to all the boys who will make up the 8 teams.”
The Chair of the USA Men’s National Youth Selection Panel Amer Afzaluddin said, “We are pleased with the unanimous decision to select an extended panel of 8 squads for the first ever USA Cricket Under 19 National Championships in April. With the dearth of cricket over recent months, it was absolutely integral to ensure that we didn’t leave any talented young cricketers behind or deny them the opportunity to shine at the National Championships. The bigger picture of the Championships in Houston is to provide crucial game time and development, but also to allow us to assess who will make the long list of the best 30 young cricketers that we will bring together again to select the National side from for the crucial World Cup Qualifiers. We will have the announcement with all the squad selections in full in March.”
Men’s Youth Internationals in 2021
After the conclusion of the USA Cricket Under 19 National Championship in April, there will be a U19 Selection Trials series for the top 30 players held from June 2nd-6th at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston, Texas with a view to finalizing the Team USA Under 19 Squad that will seek to qualify for the U19 World Cup.
As previously announced by the International Cricket Council (ICC), USA will play host to the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Americas Qualifier, as four countries – Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, USA – will battle it out to take the one qualification spot from the Americas region to the 2022 ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup, that will be played in the West Indies. Full details here.
