The rumor mill around why Bermuda’s National Cricket has yet to be announced is in relation to a player’s eligibility. Meanwhile, USA have picked three uncapped players - Ali Khan, ambidextrous spinner Prashanth Nair and Abdullah Syed - in their 14-man squad for ICC WCL Division Four in Los Angeles from October 29th.
Over the years Bermuda has been facing teams across the Americas Region and other Associate Members that have had questionable players, however it never would have appeared to bother Bermuda’s Cricket Chiefs, as long as it was the players were being hammered by the press and public.
Well, now if the rumors are true, the issue that the ICC are claiming the Bermuda Cricket Board need to prove, the Bermuda Cricket officials should have been making noise about at the ICC Level when a Bermuda Official was sitting at the table.
USA appear to have taken the route of picking players who are performing when Bermuda have picked players on a Training schedule.
Khan, a fast bowler contracted to Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League, emerged onto the USA national scene via the open trial process conducted by ICC Americas last September in Indianapolis. The Dayton, Ohio resident was also included in a 15-man USA and Canada combined ICC Americas squad that participated in the WICB Nagico Super50 in January.
Two other players included in USA's squad for the first time are dual-spinner Nair and hard-hitting batsman Syed, both from New York. Nair was injured on the first day of USA's five-day national squad camp in Indianapolis earlier this month, dislocating his left thumb during fielding drills and was unable to bowl. However, he impressed the selectors during the team's seven-day camp in July and August in Florida, taking wickets with both arms against a CPL Invitational XI.
Syed was not in USA's preliminary 30-man squad announced in July, but earned an invitation to the 22-member squad camp in Indianapolis earlier this month after a pair of blistering cameos playing for a New York XI against a touring Marylebone Cricket Club side. He cemented his place in the final squad by striking 71 off 89 balls in an intrasquad trial match, the highest score by any USA player during the camp.
Note these three players were selected because they attended the training camps, but they caught the eye of the coach and selectors because of their performances.
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