Walsh Jr out of ABCA Tri20 Tournament

The Antigua & Barbuda Master Blasters will be without another of its most experienced players for the upcoming Tri20 cricket tournament here at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground from October 6-14.
All-rounder Hayden Walsh Jr, who is contracted to the Barbados national team for the regional cricket competition, joins Windies A all-rounder Rahkeem “Jimbo” Cornwall who will be unavailable during the tournament.
Cornwall, reports indicate, will be available for only one match before having to join the Windies A in Sri Lanka.
Coach Kenneth “Flipper” Benjamin said he understands the position of the Barbados team.
“Barbados said that based on their training schedule and so forth that they can’t release him but that is fair enough because it is a professional unit. He has a contract with Barbados and if they say they are not releasing him then we just have to move on,” he said.
The former West Indies fast bowler said preparations for the annual tournament has intensified as it enters the final stage.
“I actually have both teams in my possession and I’ve gone through them already. I’ve spoken to John Archibald [trainer] so we have to look and see exactly where we would like to be in terms of the skills that they are bringing and the [players] they are bringing and so forth. We have already been looking at the team and it is just for us to intensify in terms of our preparations and make sure we are ready to compete with some of these guys,” the coach said.
Benjamin added that the team is now utilising the country’s chief cricket venue after some delay in its availability.
“We started using the pitch as of Monday so we have had three days of that so far so that has been going well. We want to win, that is the ultimate goal but at the end of the day we are playing against guys who are probably in a better organised situation than us so we have to go there and really push them hard to the limit,” he said.
Antigua & Barbuda seek to defend their title in the round-robin formatted tournament in which they will host Guyana and Jamaica.