Akshay Homraj
Akshay Homraj batting during a local tournament in New York. Photo by Shiek Mohamed

USA Cricket will return again to the Cricket West Indies Super50 tournament this month, and are pleased to today officially announce the men’s squad who will represent the United States in the Caribbean. It is the third consecutive year that Team USA have competed in the Super50 and they will be hoping to build on a promising campaign in 2018/19 where they took two wins from seven completed matches.

There are a number of changes to the squad that competed in the first ever One Day Internationals on American soil in Florida last month with three players called into a full USA Squad for the first time. 23 year old Akshay Homraj, the former Guyana U19- batsmen, Cameron Stevenson, who has played first class cricket for Tasmania and is currently with Carlton Cricket Club, and Ian Holland, currently with Hampshire, will all be in line to make their USA debuts in November.

Team USA are travelling with a squad of 16 players to the Caribbean in an effort to give as many players as possible an opportunity to showcase their recent progress and development and to spend time together as a squad ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 triangular ODI series in the UAE in early December.

Commenting on the team, USA Cricket Chairman of Selectors, Ricardo Powell, said, “Yet again there have been some very difficult decisions to be made following the series of One Day Internationals we played in Florida. On the whole, we were pleased with winning three of our four matches, but the selection panel felt we needed to look at some of our other playing options to help build our squad depth for the upcoming busy schedule of One Day International cricket we have coming up.”

“We are excited by the new talent coming into the squad and the balance that brings. In particular, we have three dynamic and exciting talents in the shape of Akshay, Cameron and Ian who will each have their chances during this tour to impress ahead of the critical ODI matches for USA in ICC World Cricket League 2 in December against Scotland and the UAE. Akshay and Ian were both with the squad for the series of trial matches earlier in the summer in Los Angeles and were impressive, while Cameron Stevenson has been on our radar for a while now and is a fast bowler of real potential who bowls at a good pace.”

“Naturally, we are disappointed not to be able to call upon Hayden Walsh, who was recently selected to tour with Cricket West Indies. Additionally, Ali Khan has decided to focus on shorter-format cricket for the time being, and he was therefore not considered by the Panel for this squad, although we continue to closely monitor his activity and USA Cricket fully supports his participation in the upcoming T10 League in Abu Dhabi.”

Speaking about the important ongoing relationship between USA Cricket and Cricket West Indies, USA Cricket’s CEO Iain Higgins said, “We are grateful to Cricket West Indies for the ongoing opportunities and support afforded to us by them, and particularly with their invitation yet again to compete in the Super50 for the third consecutive year. With the recent rise to ODI status for Team USA and qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 already having begun, the Super50 will be the perfect preparation for our Men’s National Team going into our 2nd ODI triangular series. Our playing squad is eagerly looking forward to coming together again for a significant period and to the challenge of at least eight competitive matches, and hopefully more, in the fantastic facilities in Trinidad.”

Team USA’s schedule for the Super 50 is as follows:
November 9 USA vs West Indies Emerging Players
November 11 USA vs Guyana Jaguars
November 13 USA vs Windward Island Volcanoes
November 15 USA vs Trinidad & Tobago Red Force
November 19 USA vs West Indies Emerging Players
November 21 USA vs Trinidad & Tobago Red Force
November 23 USA vs Windward Island Volcanoes
November 25 USA vs Guyana Jaguars

Team USA squad:
Saurabh Netravalkar (C – Marin 1, Northern California Cricket Association)
Steven Taylor (VC – Sheffield Cricket Club, New York Metropolitan Cricket League)
Karima Gore (Antigua)
Ian Holland (Hampshire, England)
Akshay Homraj (Galaxy Cricket Club, Eastern American Cricket Association)
Elmore Hutchinson (Caribbean CC, Southern California Cricket Association)
Aaron Jones (Atlantis Cricket Club, New York Metropolitan Cricket League)
Nosthush Kenjige (Atlantis Cricket Club, New York Metropolitan Cricket League)
Xavier Marshall (Triggers Cricket Club, Houston Cricket League)
Monank Patel (Freedom Cricket Club, Cricket League of New Jersey)
Nisarg Patel (Vijayta Cricket Club, Southern California Cricket Association)
Sagar Patel (Indian Lions, ArkTenn Cricket League)
Timil Patel (Vijayta Cricket Club, Southern California Cricket Association)
Jasdeep Singh (Smashers Cricket Club, Cricket League of New Jersey)
Cameron Stevenson (Carlton Cricket Club, Australia)
Rusty Theron (Potomac Cricket Club, Washington Cricket League)*
*Rusty Theron will join the squad from Game 5 onwards