Cricket association names strong 14 for LICB tournament

Combined Schools opening batsman Kadeem Henry, will lead a 14-member national under-19 cricket team during this year’s Leeward Islands Under-19 Cricket Tournament which bowls off here on Thursday.
Henry will be assisted by wicketkeeper and Combined Schools teammate Joshua Thomas, who has been named vice captain.
The other members of the team are Devonte Williams (Combined Schools), Tariq Benjamin (Empire Cricket Club), Kioni Greenaway (Antigua Grammar School), Shacoy Floyd (Bethesda Cricket Club), Tasillo Allen (Combined Schools), Keif Baltimore (Bethesda Sports Club) and Shaquan Reifer (All Saints Cricket Club).
Also selected are Zidane Douglas (Empire Cricket Club), Jamal Shillingford (Combined Schools), Timmo Thomas (Pigotts Sports Club), Kadeem Josiah (All Saints Cricket Club) and Xavier Marshall (Rising Sun Cricket Club).
The team will be coached by former national player Ian Tittle and Alphonso Jarvis. Alex Browne will manage the squad.
The tournament is set to bowl off at three venues with matches in Liberta, All Saints and the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground.
Cricket Operations Manager for the Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB), Vernon Springer, highlighted that less teams will take part in this year’s competition after one country pulled out of the annual contest.
“St Maarten couldn’t field a team on their own so they have joined with Anguilla and that sort of threw us off because originally it would have been six teams and so we had to make some quick adjustments in terms of that and come up with a one day format. We now have to meet a deadline submission to have our squad get ready to go to the West Indies tournament which will be in St. Kitts,” he said. 
Springer, who reveal that hosting the tournament will cost in excess of one hundred thousand EC dollars, thanked sub-regional governments for their contribution.
“The relationship the President Enoch Lewis has with the governments in terms of them helping most of these associations and the Leeward Islands Cricket Board (LICB) for us to be able to pull off these tournaments has been major and so sometimes we can’t even put a cost value on the governments’ contribution so I really want to thank the governments and especially the Minister of Sports, EP Chet Greene and the Hon Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, Gaston Browne, for their invaluable support to Leeward Islands Cricket,” he said.
Antigua & Barbuda open their campaign against St Kitts on Thursday at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground while Nevis battles Anguilla/St. Maarten in All Saints.
On Friday, Anguilla/St. Maarten face Antigua & Barbuda in Liberta while Nevis plays Montserrat at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground. Both matches start at 9:30am.