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By Neto Baptiste
Former West Indies all-rounder Rahkeem Cornwall will lead the Antigua and Barbuda senior men’s cricket team, the Master Blasters, during next weekend’s Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) Mixed Tournament in St Kitts.
Cornwall leads the 14-member squad selections ahead of the October 25 to November 1 tournament and is joined by newly- minted West Indies T20 player, Karima Gore who has been named vice captain.
The squad also includes the experienced Kofi James and rising West Indies talent, Jewel Andrew.
The head of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA) selection panel, Verbin Peters, expressed satisfaction over the final selections, adding that a number of factors were considered by the panel.
“We looked at the format of the championship and you know there’s a long format and a short format. We look at the present format of players, we look at the stats, we look at the batting position – especially the batting position – the make-up of the team. We look at the experience, and we look at players that will expose themselves to the Leeward Islands level,” he said.
“If you look at the team that we actually end up with, these players could have easily fit into that team. But unfortunately, we look at the team setup itself, and we think that this team is the best team to go forward. We have a mixture of West Indies experience – Leeward Islands experience – and two players, especially Ishmael Peters and Michael Graves, who have been looking tremendous in the practice session. So we are looking forward to seeing them out there on the field. I’m sure Antigua is going to put up a great fight,” he added.
The teams will each engage in three 50-overs matches before playing back-to-back two-day matches at various venues in St Kitts.
Antigua and Barbuda Master Blasters will face St Maarten on opening day at the St Paul’s Sporting Complex before taking on Nevis one day later at the Conaree Cricket Ground. They wrap up their 50- Overs schedule on October 27 against Anguilla at Warner Park.
Peters said it was a difficult task having to cut four players from what he described a talented bunch.
“We had a squad of 18 talented players and to come down to the final 14, it was very difficult. We wish we had permission to take all 18 because they were doing so good in practice. They looked so good and these are very skilful players, full of ability. We had runs scorers, fast bowlers, spin bowlers but unfortunately, we had to make the tough decision of just selecting 14 at this time. We spoke to the four that were left out at this time just to let them know they’re still part of the Antigua set-up. I encourage them to continue to stay focused and to work on the game. There will be more games ahead and once they continue to stay focused and pile on the runs, get the wickets, then I’m sure at some point they will be called up to represent Antigua,” he said.
Antigua and Barbuda’s two-day campaign begins on October 29 when they face Montserrat at Conaree and concludes with their clash against St Kitts starting October 31 at Warner Park.
Full squad: Rahkeem Cornwall (C), Karima Gore (VC), Kofi James, Tyrone Willams Jr, Elroy Francis Jr., Jewel Andrew, Bartlette Henry, Ishmael Peters, Glenton Williams, Micah McKenzie, Kelvin Pitman, Javier Spencer, Michael Greaves and Kadeem Henry.
The team will be coached by Purnell Watley with Purnell Joseph as assistant coach/manager. Dane Gustave will travel as statistician.
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