March 4, 2016 By Sahr Morris Jnr.
Sierra Leone Cricket Association (SLCA) will on Saturday start its six weeks One Day International (ODI) U-19 tournament at the Prince of Wales school ground, Kingtom.
Four teams: Dr. Sahr Kpundeh, Dr. Monteh Harding, Dr. Julius Spencer and Ibrahim Omarr Sesay will battle in this year’s competition, which will also be used to identify players for the national team.
Teams Dr. Sahr Kpundeh and Dr. Monteh Harding will toss the first coin of the day to start the 50 overs tournament, while in the following day, coach Abdul Sesay’s squad (team Ibrahim Omarr Sesay) and the squad of coach Alex Kinni Musa (team Dr. Julius Spencer) will lock horns.
According to SLCA chief executive officer, Francis Trevor Samura, the tournament will be highly competitive as selection of players to the national team training will be done immediately after the tournament.
He said there is already a bench mark set by the executive and technical team to assess players for national call-up, adding that they are expecting higher runs and impressive stats throughout the tournament.
On the naming of the teams, Samura said: “We decided to name these teams after these four people who have contributed greatly towards the success of cricket in the country; like Ibrahim Omarr Sesay, he is the most successful Sierra Leone cricket captain of all time.”
A total of 64 players will participate in the tournament, 16 of whom are allocated to each of the four teams.
In related development, the SLCA will have a day seminar today (Friday) with all the captains of the ODI teams, the Women’s T20 super league teams, umpires, scorers, coaches and all staff. The seminar is aimed at discussing standard ICC ODI playing conditions, rules governing both the ODI and the super league and other important issues related to the smooth running of effective and professional management of the game.