USA Cricket is pleased to announce a series of player talent identification events across the country for women and girls who are thirteen years old or above. The objective is to expand the women’s national player pool while also establishing a girls’ national player pool.
The scheduled talent identification events for February and March will be:
- Baltimore, MD – February 22
- Somerset, NJ – February 29-March 1
- Raleigh, NC – March 19
- Dallas, TX – March 21
- San Francisco, CA – March 21-22
- Seattle, WA – March 22
Depending upon the success of these initial talent identification events and the response to the registration process, additional programs in other cities may also be held during the year.
USA Cricket CEO, Iain Higgins commented, “As we look to develop and support a suitable domestic structure and high performance program for women’s and girl’s cricket across the United States it is important to understand what the current landscape looks like and how broad the talent pool is at all age groups.
There are a number of existing pockets across the country where women and girls regularly play competitive cricket and we want to make sure that every one of them who wants to be considered in any regional or national competitive activity during 2020 and beyond has an opportunity to demonstrate their ability and be assessed early in the calendar year. That way, USA Cricket can tailor domestic structures and programs that are fit for purpose and incorporate any new talent within the respective high-performance squads and camps.
At the highest level, broadening our talent pool will obviously also help the national team prepare us for future international competitions and events, including the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier later this year in Sri Lanka. The ICC has also recently announced its intention to stage a Girl’s U19 Cricket World Cup, which the USA hopes to be eligible and qualify to compete at in 2023.”
USA Cricket Board Member and Chair of the Women and Girls Sub-Committee, Nadia Gruny added, “For the first time in USA’s history we are bringing young girls formally into a national set-up. These talent identification events and subsequent development opportunities signal a new focus from USA Cricket to invest in girls at an important stage of their development while introducing high-potential players into the scouting funnel of our senior team.
The goal is to begin exposing the girls to national programs sooner in order to accelerate their development and prepare them for future playing opportunities such as the ICC Girl’s Under 19 Cricket World Cup, while helping us to produce more competitive senior national teams for years to come. Talent identification is only one aspect of our developing strategy to grow women and girls’ cricket across the US and there is obviously more to be done in terms of grassroots development and initiatives, which will come on stream in due course. In the meantime, we’re thrilled to be able to first take stock of the players already in the system and to start to build a structure around them.”
Each of the talent identification events will be coordinated and overseen by USA Cricket officials and any player who is thirteen years old or above who wishes to participate should please register her interest here by no later than February 14.
Players who are unable to attend one of the initial talent identification events may submit video footage of themselves to be reviewed by USA Cricket coaching staff and selectors. Any players who plan to submit footage should please complete the registration process and check the appropriate box to receive further instructions on how to do this.
