The Sierra Leone U-19 cricket team will be moving to camp this weekend at the football Academy in Kingtom in preparation for their World Cup playoff in Canada, Toronto that expected to start 1st of September and ends on the 13th of August.
This was disclosed by the Public Relation Officer Alieu Bockarie who revealed that the team will depart the shores of Sierra Leone on the 28th of this month with a 17 man delegation comprises of 14 players and 3 officials.
He also mentioned that the intensive 10-team event involves each side playing nine matches in 13 days with the top six making it through to the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2010 which will take place in New Zealand from 16 to 30 January next year.
He also stated that six grounds will be used in and around Toronto with Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City hosting four. The other venues being used are Malton and Sunnybrook with five matches taking place in total per day.
According to David Richardson ICC General Manager, he said the fact that we now have regional and global qualifying stages for this event shows how much cricket has developed at age-group level around the world.
He also mentioned that this is a great opportunity for these young players to experience cricket tournament and pitch their skills against teams from other parts of the world and against styles of play that they might not be familiar with them.
Richardson also revealed that the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup has traditionally been a stepping stone for the world’s top players and he expect this year’s event to be no different.
There has also been success for some of the Associate teams against full members so it will be interesting to see who emerges from the global qualifier to claim their places in New Zealand.
Of course the 10 hopeful teams have already enjoyed some success having made it through their respective regional qualifier earlier in the year.
The competing teams are Afghanistan, Hong Kong (Asia),Canada, USA (Americas), Ireland and Netherlands (Europe), Sierra Leone, Uganda (Africa), Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu (East Asia-Pacific).