By Frederick Halley

TORONTO, Canada – When the International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup bowls off in South Africa on January 17, three players with Guyanese roots will be part of the Canadian squad vying for supremacy in the prestigious tournament. The 15-member squad departed for South Africa last Friday.

The three are skipper Ashtan Deosammy, Raqib Shamsudeen and Nicholas Manohar, all products of Tranzac Cricket Academy in the Toronto District Cricket Association League.

Deosammy is one of four players who participated in the 2018 tournament, played in New Zealand, the others being Randhir Sandhu, Arshdeep Dhaliwal and Rishiv Joshi.

Deosammy also captained the Canadian Under-19 side which qualified by winning the Americas Region Qualification tournament in Toronto in July last year, defeating the USA by five wickets to go unbeaten through the five-team competition, which included Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Argentina.

Shamsudeen, whose omission from the team for the last World Cup drew criticisms in some quarters, was on the reserve list in 2018. He also plays for Guyana’s Everest Cricket Club during March breaks.

The left-handed Manohar, a leg-break googly bowler, played against Argentina in the Americas Regional qualifiers.

This year marks the thirteenth edition of the tournament and South Africa’s second occasion as hosts. South Africa hosted the second edition which was held in 1998, ten years after the 1988 inaugural competition. Canada’s 2020 participation will be its sixth appearance as a team country.

Team Canada had participated in the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup’s 2002, 2004, 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2018. Canadian players had also been members of the ICC Associates XI Squads that had participated in the 1988 inaugural tournament and again in 2000.

The sixteen participating teams at the ICC 2020 Under-19 World Cup will be split into four groups for the tournament’s preliminary rounds. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super League, with the bottom two from each group progressing to the Plate League.

Canada will play their preliminary round matches in the tournament’s Group D. The Canadians will face the United Arab Emirates on January 18, hosts South Africa on January 22 and Afghanistan on January 24.

Prior to their departure the Canadian players were presented with their official Team Canada caps at a January 2 Cricket Canada-hosted function. The players and their management staff were also treated to a Bukhara Restaurant farewell dinner by Cricket Canada officials including president Ranjit Saini, Board directors Mohammed Shaikh and Ranjit Chaudhri,as well as General Manager Ingleton Liburd.

Canada’s 15-member squad: Astan Deosammy (captain), Akhil Kumar, Arshdeep Dhaliwal, Ayush Verma, Benjamin Calitz, Eshan Sensarma, Gurjot Gosal, Mihir Patel, Muhammad Kamal, Nicholas Manohar, Randhir Sandhu, Raqib Shamsudeen, Rishiv Joshi, Udaybir Walia and Harmandeep Singh Bedi. The manager is Anil Khanna, head coach Farouk Kirmani, while the assistant coach is Kulbir Jaswal.  Shah Zafar will serve as analyst, Tejash Patel as physio.