USA announces squad for the warm-up games against CPL teams

USA have announced their squad for the T20 matches against the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) teams ahead of the 5th edition of the tournament starting on August 4th. The squad saw the return of their former captain, off-spinner Mohammad Ghous who was dropped from the team in 2015.

Ghous was last part of the USA team in the 2015 World T20 qualifiers hosted by Ireland. He is now part of the 14-man squad which will be taking on St. Kitts & Nevis and Jamaica Tallawahs on August 2nd and 3rd respectively at Lauderhill, Florida.

“These matches are a great opportunity for the USA to compete against some of the best in the world,” the USA selection chairman Ricardo Powel was quoted by ESPNCricinfo. “Initiatives such as these are of critical importance for the development of our playing group and we are grateful to the CPL, St. Kitts [& Nevis] Patriots and Jamaica Tallawahs for arranging these practice matches in the lead up to the USA-leg of the tournament,” he added.

USA team has brought back their former captain in absence of five of their players, who will be featuring for the CPL sides including their regular captain Steven Taylor who is a part of the Guyana Amazon Warriors. All-rounder Timroy Allen will represent Jamaica Tallawahs while their wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson will serve Barbados Tridents. Guyana will also have services of the USA pacer Ali Khan while the leg spinner Timil Patel will be seen playing for the St. Lucia Stars.

They last played the WCL Division Three in May held in Uganda where they failed to grab a promotion. The two CPL teams featuring in the warm-ups will play two matches each in the 4-match USA leg of the CPL hosted at Florida, which will be held on 5th and 6th of August.

Only six players were retained in the squad for the two CPL games from the team that played in Uganda earlier this year due to unavailability of many players. Camilus Alexander, Fahad Babar, all-rounder Mrunal Patel and bowlers Elmore Hutchinson, Jessy Singh and Nosthush Kenjige are the only ones who were part of USA’s recent fixtures.

USA  Squad: Camilus Alexander, Fahad Babar, Davion Davidson (wk), Muhammad Ghous, Elmore Hutchinson, Nosthush Kenjige, Jaskaran Malhotra (wk), Japen Patel, Mrunal Patel, Nisarg Patel, Usman Rafiq, Roy Silva, Jessy Singh, Abdullah Syed.