- Men’s elite training camp confirmed for early April at the MLC National Cricket Center at the Prairie View Cricket Complex
- The majority of the recently named Men’s National Training Group of 26 players will attend the training camp that will be followed by a series of matches in the ‘Houston Challenge’ for a USA Cricket Invitational XI vs select MLC XIs
- The camp and matches will serve as crucial preparation for the upcoming home CWC League 2 ODI Series that will be played in May and June in the USA
USA Cricket today confirms the announcement of a Men’s National Team training camp, from April 3 to 10, which includes a series of competitive matches versus three select XIs, which will feature three teams of cricketers from Major League Cricket’s pool of players, as part of the ‘Houston Challenge’ hosted at the MLC National Cricket Center at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Texas.
After the USA Cricket Men’s National Selectors announced the 26 player group last month, all available players from the group have been called together for this training camp and will be in Texas under the guidance of USA Head Coach, J Arun Kumar.
The players will have an opportunity to get much needed cricket and time together before the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) League 2 tri-series in May and June 2022 and games against quality oppositions put together by MLC. The next series in CWC League 2 will see international cricket firstly return to American soil ahead of the crucial ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier ‘B’ in Zimbabwe in July.
PVCC also played host to the USA Cricket Men’s National Championships in November 2021
The Major League Cricket run ‘Houston Challenge’ will see a ‘USA Cricket Invitational XI’ play three 50 Over matches and one T20 match over the course of a full week of cricket in Texas, the matches will be against MLC West, MLC Central and MLC East all on the superb turf-wicket facilities at Prairie View Cricket Complex.
Chair of the USA Cricket Committee, Sushil Nadkarni, said, “We are particularly pleased that we have been able to pull together this training camp and then, thanks to our partners at MLC, see some of our best players take part in the Houston Challenge matches. The matches are critical to the overall preparation of the Men’s team and we are very fortunate these high-quality matches are scheduled straight after the training camp that itself comes right after the Houston T20 Open. There will be a lot of quality cricket on show and it will give almost all of our 2022 Training Group a chance to shine and make their case ahead of a huge year for the Men’s game.”
Team USA Men’s Head Coach, J Arun Kumar said, “The boys and I are all raring to get 2022 underway after we had a short break to start the year off. The last time we were all together was during the Irish series in Florida which provided us with a famous first win against a Full Member Nation of the ICC, but which was also obviously difficult off the pitch at times. We have a huge year in 2022 with more ODIs scheduled than ever before and a genuine chance at qualifying for a World Cup for the first time. This training camp and the series of matches vs some very high-quality cricketers that follow is the perfect way to get our year going. My thanks to all involved at Major League Cricket and the Prairie View Cricket Complex for facilitating what will be a great set up for us.”
HOUSTON CHALLENGE MATCHES
All games start at 10.30am local time
NB – One Match each day will live stream on the MLC YouTube channel. The games marked with an asterisk will be live streamed*
Tuesday, April 5
Match 1 – MLC East v. USA Cricket Invitational XI
Match 2 – MLC West v. MLC Central*
Wednesday, April 6,
Match 3 – MLC West v. MLC East*
Thursday, April 7
Match 4 – MLC Central v. USA Cricket Invitational XI*
Friday, April 8,
Match 5 – MLC West v. USA Cricket Invitational XI*
Saturday, April 9
Match 6 – MLC East v. MLC Central*
Sunday, April 10,
Match 7 – MLC East v. USA Cricket Invitational XI (T20)*
Match 8 – MLC West v. MLC Central (T20)
