The announcements come at the start of a huge year for the Women’s game in the USA, with the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Sri Lanka in July being followed by the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier in September, which the USA will host. The USA Cricket Women’s Selection Panel announces both the USA Women’s National Training Group and, in a historic first, the first-ever USA Women’s National Under 19 Training Group.
Women’s National Training Group
The USA Cricket Women’s National Selectors have named the Women’s National Training Group, with an expanded group of 28 players. This group will serve as a starting point for Team USA Women’s program and our first international fixtures since the COVID-19 pandemic. The Training Group will continually be revised in consultation with the Selection Panel and coaches in line with the players’ skill development, performance, fitness, and attitude.
The expansion of the Training Group is consistent with the principles of the recently selected Men’s National Training Group, so all players from the 2020 Women’s National Training Group are retained with new selections being added to that original group.
USA Women’s National Team Head Coach, Julia Price, said, “I’m really excited that Team USA has the opportunity to return to cricket in 2021. It is a huge year for USA in the Women’s game, particularly with some of the exciting new talent that we have coming through. In order for the USA to be competitive in world cricket, we need to keep challenging and pushing our current players to be committed elite athletes. We also need to continue to grow and expose more American cricketers to the great game of cricket through our domestic programs. The 50 Overs World Cup Qualifier in July will be a brilliant experience and provide us with a great exposure on the global stage, it will also hold us in good stead for the critical T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier in September.”
Women’s National Under 19 Training Group
USA Cricket is also naming a Women’s National Youth Training Group for the first time at Under 19 level, with 24 players making up the Training Group. With an inaugural ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup being announced by the ICC likely to become a permanent fixture in the ICC’s global event calendar and as part of our strategic commitment to focus on Women & Girls, the creation of this formal Training Group for the Under 19s was considered to be a priority as we begin to lay down a clearer pathway for women and girls who wish to play competitive cricket in this country and on the international stage.
USA Women’s Youth Coach, Asif Mujtaba said, “I am eagerly awaiting the return of cricket in 2021 and it is fantastic news that we have now officially named the first-ever Women’s National Under 19 Training Group for USA. We certainly have some great young talent across the country and I’m looking forward to working with everyone. To be able to bring our best young cricketers into the same regionalized training hubs as the National Training Group is certain to be beneficial and will help us develop the next generation of Women’s cricketers for Team USA.”
The players in the two National Training Groups will train together within a regionalized hub coaching structure, under the overall supervision of the National Team Coaches.
The current Chairman of the USA Cricket Women’s Selection Panel, Ritesh Kadu, said, “Following on from the completion of the Women’s Talent ID Events in late 2020, we have been pleased to be able to formalize the Training Groups for the Women’s National Team. It is also extremely exciting to be able to establish, for the first time, a Women’s National Under 19 Training Group as well. With no Women’s Internationals possible in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the wider group of USA Women’s players have been heavily reliant on virtual training sessions of late. The naming of these two Women’s National Training Groups will allow our Women and Girls to train together, in a COVID-safe manner, within their regionalized hubs as we prepare for a big year for Women’s cricket.”
Women’s Domestic Structure
USA Cricket will shortly be announcing the creation of an underlying domestic structure to support players in the National Training Groups and a wider pool of women and girls, by providing them with increased competition opportunities domestically. Based upon some research carried out last year into the distribution of female players across the country, that competition is likely to be structured around the following four ‘Areas’, into which the national training group of players have been provisionally placed:
- Combined East and Mid-Atlantic Zones – East Area
- Combined Midwest and South Zones – Central Area
- Standalone South West Zone – South-West Area
- Standalone West Zone – West Area
When appropriate, as the women’s game develops, the two combined areas will separate, and a zonal structure that is more consistent with the six USA Cricket Zones will be adopted.
USA Cricket Operations Director, Richard Done, said, “After a year unlike any other off the field, where everyone involved has done a brilliant job at keeping momentum going for Team USA Women, we are delighted to begin the path back to international women’s cricket on the field of play. I want to congratulate all of those players named in both Training Groups, and I am confident that the new competition and coaching structures we have in place for both Groups will aid the development of our best female cricketers.”
“Alongside these developments around the national squads, the Women & Girls Committee have been making progress with a plan to engage more women and girls at all levels of the sport. These are all critical steps in helping to build USA Cricket and to firmly establish women’s cricket in America, and we are confident that 2021 will see further positive steps forward in this respect.”
Women’s National Training Group 2021
| Player | Area |
| Akshatha Rao | West |
| Anika Kolan | West |
| Candacy Atkins | East |
| Chetnaa Prasad | West |
| Claudine Beckford | International |
| Erica Rendler | West |
| Gargi Bhogle | West |
| Geetika Kodali | Central |
| Holly Charles | East |
| Isani Vaghela | West |
| Laasya Mullapudi | West |
| Lisa Ramjit | East |
| Mahika Kandanala | South-West |
| Moksha Chaudhary | East |
| Nadia Gruny | Central |
| Nikhila Ravi | West |
| Onika Wallerson | East |
| Samantha Ramautar | East |
| Sara Farooq | East |
| Shebani Bhaskar | International |
| Shinead Emerson | East |
| Sindhu Sriharsha | West |
| Sindhuja Reddy | West |
| Sugetha Chandhrasekar | West |
| Triveni Suryakant Rane | West |
| Uzma Iftikhar | West |
| Yashaaditi Teki | West |
| Zeenat Kauser | Central |
Women’s Under 19 National Training Group 2021
| Player | Area |
| Aafia Khazi | Central |
| Alicia Fernando | East |
| Anika Kolan | West |
| Anika Kumar | East |
| Aparna Gurumurthy | East |
| Bhumika Bhadriraju | Central |
| Chetnaa Prasad | West |
| Disha Dhingra | East |
| Harika Amenini | West |
| Isani Vaghela | West |
| Isiri Prasad | South-West |
| Jivana Aras | West |
| Kasturi Vedantham | East |