Despite unseasonable wet weather, threatening to disrupt the weekend’s play, the LA Combine was successfully executed with some high standards on display.
The event kicked off on Thursday evening with a series of indoor strength and conditioning based assessments from BAM Testing, who run similar programs for the NBA. Friday moved to batting, bowling and fielding testing under the watchful eye of legendary West Indian quick Eldine Baptiste and former Australian fielding coach, Mike Young.
Over the weekend, participants ventured outdoors, to Woodley Fields, and competed in T20 and 40 over matches under the watchful eye of expert assessors, and a number of local coaches from both Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Eldine Baptist, WICB selector, one of the cricket evaluation team in LA noted the talent of the group:
I was really pleased with some of the talent on show in LA. There were some players with some good raw skills and the most pleasing thing was how keen they were to learn and improve.
From all reports, the selected players enjoyed the opportunity to compete against some of the best talent from the west coast in some high quality matches.
Krish Goel, former USA U19 players from Northern California was thankful for the opportunity and experience:
It was great to be a part of the Combine and test myself alongside some of best players from California at the combine, particularly in front of guys like Mike Young and Eldine Baptiste who know what it takes to succeed at the top level.
The second combine commences Friday, in San Francisco, where local female and U17 players will take part in the four day assessment.
Story and photo courtesy of ICC America.