The second edition of the Desmond Haynes Under-19 Cup takes place this coming week at the Iceland Cricket Oval in Mississauga, Ontario as part of the Mississauga Ramblers 2016 Youth Cricket Festival. The Festival marks the 50th Anniversary of the Mississauga Ramblers and included a four-team Ontario Under-15 championship, hosted on behalf of the Cricket Council of Ontario, some two weeks ago.
This year’s Desmond Haynes U19 Cup involves three teams playing a round-robin series of 50-over games with the top two teams advancing to Friday’s final (August 26, 2016).
Clarkson Cavaliers play Cooksville Warriors in Monday’s (August 22) opening game. On Tuesday (August 23) Cooksville Warriors play Meadowvale Mavericks and the round-robin is due to conclude on Wednesday (August 24) when Meadowvale Mavericks face Clarkson Cavaliers. All games are scheduled to be played on the natural grass wickets and play is due to begin each day at 10am. No play is scheduled for Thursday (August 25).
Four members of Canada’s squad that played in the 2016 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh are due to play in the Desmond Haynes U19 Cup: Arslan Khan, Kurt Ramdath, Thursaanth (Shan) Anantharajan and Mamik Luthra.
Arslan Khan, who will captain Cooksville Warriors, returns from St Vincent and the Grenadines, where he played for ICC Americas Under-19s in the West Indies Cricket Board Regional Under-19 50-overs championship.
Kurt Ramdath, named captain of Clarkson Cavaliers, was recently in Trinidad and Tobago in the annual “Cricket Across the Pond” tour that has RBC as lead sponsor and is jointly organized by CIMA Canada and the Toronto Mayor’s office. Several players in the Haynes Cup were involved in either the Cricket Across the Pond tour to Sri Lanka in 2015 or this year’s tour to Trinidad and Tobago.
Meadowvale Mavericks captain, Emanual Khohkar, was on the 2015 Sri Lanka Cricket Across the Pond tour, as were Rohan Kundlass (Meadowvale Mavericks) and Meigha Perera (Cooksville Cavaliers). The 2016 RBC CIMA Toronto Mayor’s tour party included five players due to play in the Desmond Haynes Cup: Kurt Ramdath (Clarkson Cavaliers) plus Mamik Luthra, Nikhil Sharma, Zargham Nasir and Nashed Uddin (all Meadowvale Mavericks in the Haynes Cup).
Several players in the 2016 Haynes Cup have played at the Under-17 level in the 2016 Ontario U17 championship and the 2016 Under-17 Canada Cup, where Ontario fielded two teams. Some of the 2016 Haynes Cup players appeared for Canada in the 2016 ICC Americas U17 Match Play Competition in Houston, Texas, namely Arslan Khan, Emmanuel Khohkar, Ravi Sandhu, Faisal Jamkhandi and Nashed Uddin.
Ravi Sandhu was a late replacement for Kavian Naress, who was unable to travel at the last minute to the ICC Americas U17 tournament. Kavian Naress had scored a century in the 2016 Canada Cup and will be keen to do well for the Clarkson Cavaliers team in the Desmond Haynes Cup.
Some of this year’s touring activities result in some leading Ontario junior players not being available for the Desmond Haynes Cup. There have been major time commitments to the cause of Canadian cricket by players who were in the Under-19 World Cup squad and from several who were not in the selected 15 but continued to join in indoor practices before the squad left for outdoor warm-ups in Sri Lanka before the tournament began in Bangladesh.
Other prospects may be hoping to show a new edge in their bowling after attending the Ultimate Pace Foundation’s first Canadian camp in the “new” grass nets around the Iceland cricket oval this past week.
Although matches have a limit of 50-overs per innings, white clothing is being worn and red cricket balls are to be used.
Mississauga Ramblers host the 2016 Desmond Haynes Under-19 Cup with the support of the Cricket Council of Ontario. Congratulations to the Ramblers and best wishes to the players, umpires, scorers, scoreboard operators, sponsors and families, friends and other spectators for the tournament.
Squads for the 2016 Desmond Haynes Under-19 Cup
Clarkson Cavaliers: Kurt Ramdath (captain) Ali Irfan, Faisal Jamkhandi, Hamza Talal, Harkaran Mann, Jasmeet Bhatti, Kavian Naress, Kunal Swami, Maahil Arshad, Thursaanth (Shan) Anantharjah, Soumil Chaudhri, Vedant Dave and Zaeem Sagri.
Cooksville Warriors: Arslan Khan (captain), Abaan Khan, Ayush Verma, Malik Sondhi, Meigha Perera, Muhammad Abubaker, Muhammad Adil, Nishant Dave, Rahul Prabhakar, Ravi Sandu, Rishiv Joshi, Rohan Patel and Harsh Ishwar.
Meadowvale Mavericks: Emanuel Khohkar (captain), Dipesh Bhatt, Gazenfar Syed, Harsh Kaul, Kevin Singh, Mamik Luthra, Nashed Uddin, Nicholas Manohar, Nikhil Sharma, Rohan Kundlass, Shivam Joshi, Zargham Nasir and Hamza Khan.
Squads as announced on the Cricket Council of Ontario’s website on the morning of August 20, 2016.