Cricket Newfoundland and Labrador’s entry will look to improve on last year’s third-place showing as it competes in the Eastern Canadian T20 tournament being held this weekend in Montreal.
The 13-player team, led by captain Rakesh Negi, will play a round-robin against last year’s champion Nova Scotia, Quebec’s A and B teams, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, with the top two finishers qualifying for Sunday’s final, and the third- and fourth-place teams playing for bronze.
Last year, Newfoundland finished behind Nova Scotia and runner-up Quebec and ahead of New Brunswick and P.E.I. This year, the field has been expanded to include a second Quebec team.
“We have an excellent bowling attack, and if we perform with the bat and in the field, we have every chance of doing well,” said head coach Dave Liverman.
Praveen Manhas and Rahul Vashishta both were selected to play at a selection camp for the Canadian national team earlier this month and should be key players for Team N.L. this weekend.
Vashishta was most valuable player at the 2017 Eastern Canadians in St. John’s and will be counted on for a similar performance this year. He has been in exceptional batting form this season, making over 600 runs in the local league matches, despite battling a knee injury. Manhas’s accurate spin bowling proved effective at national level, and the team will look for that sort of performance in Montreal so as to restrict scoring and take wickets.
The squad includes four players new to provincial competition, Anol Azad, Madhu Bandara, Abhishek Doshi and Daxraj Mehta, but also includes Gurman Khurana and Negi, who both played in Cricket NL’s first inter-provincial tournament eight years ago.
“We have an excellent bowling attack, and if we perform with the bat and in the field, we have every chance of doing well,” said Negi. “Many of the team have been training since January for this tournament, and the mix of experience and new talent is very promising.”
Other members of the team include Saravana Kumar, Deep Patel, Sajawal Osto, Arifusalem Sheikh and Mesam Timmar.
Newfoundland’s first games are Friday and should be good tests as they take on the two Quebec teams. Medal games are Sunday afternoon.
