Monank Patel Named USA T20 Captain, Carmichael Included In Squad
USA Cricket today announced a 14-man Men’s National Team who will represent the United States at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier to be held in Antigua from November 7th to 14th.
A new captain is named for the T20I format with Monank Patel taking the reins as the leader of the United States for the first time. Saurabh Netravakar will remain as the USA One Day International captain and the two leaders will work closely together with the split captaincy roles in the two primary formats for Team USA. Aaron Jones retains the Vice-Captain role he had in Oman, where he played an important off-field role, after being injured before the start of that CWC League 2 series.
It is a strong squad, with the team boosted by the return of Ali Khan, Ian Holland and Rusty Theron who are all available for Antigua after being unable to travel with the ODI squad to Oman last month. Xavier Marshall returns to the team after a stellar Minor League season, and Trinson Carmichael’s showing across the summer in the same competition has also led to his selection.
The tour of Antigua will be the second tour under the leadership of the USA Cricket Men’s Head Coach, J. Arunkumar, after last month’s tour of Oman that saw USA win 3 and lose 3 of their One Day Internationals in Muscat. With two places on offer at the ICC T20 World Cup Global Qualifiers in the first half of 2022, the tournament is a huge opportunity to take the first step towards qualification for a global event.
The USA touring party will get together for a preparation camp and practice matches towards the end of October and then arrive in St. John’s, Antigua on November 4, where they will have two training days in the superb local facilities prior to the event commencing.
At the other end, USA Cricket would like to thank Cricket West Indies and ICC Americas for scheduling in such a way so as to facilitate the early departure of the USA squad from the competition to ensure that all 14 players can play in the USA Cricket Men’s National Championships which has been rescheduled to now commence on November 15th at the MLC National Cricket Center at Prairie View Cricket Complex in Texas.
Chair of the Men’s National Selection Panel, Michael Voss, said, “The appointment of Monank Patel as USA’s new T20I Captain comes after 50-over captain, Saurabh Netravalkar, requested the opportunity to focus fully on his bowling in the shortest format of the game. He had done that with great success during the recent Minor League Cricket competition, and the Selection Panel were fully supportive of his decision. Aside from recent performances with the national team on its ODI tour of Oman, there have been some fantastic performances across the summer in the inaugural season of Minor League Cricket and which the Selection Panel took into account as part of its selection process. We were especially pleased that the overall competition for places in the Men’s T20 national team is stronger than ever before, and there are no doubt a number of players who will considering themselves very unlucky to miss out, but they will continue to be monitored and will remain very firmly in the minds of the Selection Panel moving forward.”
Richard Done, USA Cricket Operations Director, added, “The return to T20 International cricket offers our players a significant opportunity to amend for the huge disappointment of failing to get through the Americas Qualifier in 2019. It’s never an easy task in these qualifying events, but there is a major reward with the chance to advance to the Global Qualifiers which will decide the places for the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup. The Selection Panel has named a strong squad that will travel to Antigua and we are definitely boosted by the return of Ali Khan, Ian Holland and Rusty Theron, who all have great experience globally and in T20 cricket.”
Team USA Squad
Monank Patel (Captain)
Aaron Jones (Vice Captain)
Ali Khan
Elmore Hutchinson
Gajanand Singh
Ian Holland
Jaskaran Malhotra
Karima Gore
Nisarg Patel
Rusty Theron
Saurabh Netravalkar
Steven Taylor
Trinson Carmichael
Xavier Marshall
