BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-THE Leeward Islands’ 13-man squad for the 2010 regional 4-day competition has seen Kittitian batsman Steve Liburd return as captain and Nevisian Tonito Willet take up the vice-captaincy as the team readies themselves for Barbados on January 8-11.
The Leeward Islands have a slightly more experienced squad for this season’s tournament, as a number of players gained international experience in 2009 during the players strike. Among those who competed against Bangladesh are batsman Kieran Powell, fast-bowler Gavin Tonge and wicketkeeper Devon Thomas.
Other Kittitians and Nevisians to make the squad include Codville Rogers and Runako Morton, respectively, while the remainder of the squad is filled by Montcin Hodge, Omari Banks, Anthony Martin, Justin Athanaze and Lionel Baker.
Morton, Banks and Baker all have experience at the West Indies level, making this year’s squad one of the most accomplished overall to take the field in recent years.
Had Morton not continued to have disciplinary problems in 2009, he may have remained as the captain instead of Liburd. The Nevisian batsman was the second highest scorer in last year’s tournament with 1010 runs, being beaten only by Guyana’s Narsingh Deonarine, who scored 1068.
Having finished third in last year’s tournament behind champion Jamaica and runner-up Windward Islands, the Leeward Islands are looking for the leaderships of Head Coach John Archibald and Manager Hugo Gore to lead them to victory this year.
The first round of competition will take place in Jamaica this week, but the tournament will then move to the Federation, where Barbados will face the Combined Colleges and Campuses squad in Nevis and Jamaica will take on the Leeward Islands in St. Kitts.
Subsequent to the matches in the Federation, matches will be played in Barbados from January 22-February 1. The tournament will then take a short break, after which matches will resume in Guyana for round five from February 12-15.
The final two rounds will be played in Trinidad (February 19-22) and the Windward Islands (February 26-March 1), respectively.
