-WI U-19 team to take part

Trinidad and Tobago are scheduled to start the defence of their regional cricket one-day title just three days after the final of the inaugural Champions League in India in which they are one of 12 participating teams.

Tony Howard, chief cricket operations officer of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), said yesterday the regional tournament has been provisionally set for October 26-November 5 in Guyana. The final of the Champions League is in Hyderabad October 23.

Trinidad & Tobago qualified for the Champions League by winning the regional Stanford 20/20 tournament in Antigua in 2008 with victory over Jamaica in the final. They completed the limited-overs double by beating Barbados in the 50-overs-an-innings final at Providence, in Guyana, last November.

Canada and the United States, which competed in 2008, have not been included this year but the West Indies Under-19 team have been added, according to Howard, as preparation for the ICC’s Youth World Cup in New Zealand.

They participated similarly in 2007 as a build-up to the Youth World Cup in Malaysia but failed to win a match. They had the humiliation of being bowled out for 18 by Barbados, prompting the jibe that at least they maintained their description as the Under-19s.

The other teams are Barbados, Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC), Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago and Windward Islands. The format is still to be finalised, Howard said.

According to Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) president and WICB director Paul Campbell, the tournament offers a way back into the West Indies team for players who made themselves unavailable for the recent home series against Bangladesh and were subsequently omitted from the squad to the upcoming Champions Trophy in South Africa.

“All players are expected to make themselves available for the regional one-day tournament, and, as such, would be in contention for a place on the team for the tour of Australia”, Campbell told the Jamaica Gleaner in a statement that seemed to pre-empt the current mediation process between the WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), under former Commonwealth secretary general Sir Sridath Ramphal.

The West Indies tour Australia for three Tests in November and December and in February for five ODIs and two Twenty20 Internationals.