CLICO INTERNATIONAL UNDER-15 CHAMPIONSHIPS
April 17th 2008

Confident Windies start against Malaysia

WEST INDIES youth cricketers eyeing their second U-15 youth title will start their campaign in the CLICO International Championships against Malaysia tomorrow at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

The CLICO International tournament starts with a knockout phase from tomorrow to next Thursday and the league competition runs from April 26 to May 4.

The regional team will be led by T&T’s prolific batsman and wicketkeeper Steven Katwaroo. Also included in the West Indies team is Presentation College Chaguanas & T&T’s impressive left-arm spinner Derone Davis.

Coach of the regional side and former West Indies Test cricketer Keith Arthurton told G-Sports yesterday that the team’s preparation was a success with several outstanding individual performances.

“The team’s preparation was okay. We played against Combermere High School and Alexander School and came out on top in both matches. Kraigg Braithwaite impressed with 102 against Combermere, while Kyle Miles looked in good touch for his 61 against Alexander,” Arthurton said.

Considered one of the better fieldsman in his era, Arthurton said the youngsters are well focused on the task ahead.

“Thing are getting better and the guys continues to be focused. The camp was the ideal tonic ahead of the tournament. We had the opportunity to look at all the players and start from the top, rather that try them out during the actual tournament,” Arthurton stated.

In the other match on Saturday, Holland and Bangladesh will clash at Weymouth.

Teams joining the West Indies for the CLICO tournament will be Pakistan, Kenya, Malaysia, Ireland, Holland, Bangladesh and the International Cricket Council (ICC) Americas team, comprised of players from Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands and Bahamas.

The tournament will have matches in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Guyana, Barbados and St Kitts, and will be the first of its kind since the Costcutter Under-15 World Championships which was won by the West Indies in England in 2000.

Test playing countries England, New Zealand, South Africa, India and Australia will be missing from the tournament.

This is a tournament that is widely considered by cricket observers as the U15 ‘World Cup’.

The last such tournament, the Costcutter U15 World Challenge Championships, was held in England in 2000 with the West Indies led by T&T ‘s Tishan Maraj and included West Indies players Denesh Ramdin and Ravi Rampaul emerging as winners after they defeated Pakistan in a thrilling final at the famous Lords cricket ground. As such, they are virtually the reigning champions and are expected to give a spirited defence.

Last night, the championships began officially with a welcome dinner at the Accra Beach Hotel, Barbados with the various teams and their managers meeting their counterparts in a social atmosphere.

The West Indies Under-15s used a century from Kraigg Brathwaite and a five-wicket haul from Raymond Senior on Monday to beat the Combermere School team by 29 runs in a warm-up match for the tournament.

Batting first, the West Indies juniors scored 219 for five and Combermere replied with 190 all out in the first of two warm-up matches for the regional side during their one-week camp in Barbados.

The prolific Brathwaite, who was the CLICO West Indies Under-15 tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP) for two consecutive years, stroked a well measured 102.