A sticky wicket for Manitobans

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This article was published 01/08/2015 (3738 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shlok PATEL needs to make his presence felt next week at the Cricket Canada National under-16 Championship, this much he knows.

At 15, Patel, a bowling all-rounder, is already feeling the pressure of performing at the highest level, even if the goal he’s reaching for isn’t until 2018.

“There’s big pressure I’ve put on myself because I am trying to push myself every day to make the team,” Patel said. “I’ve set my goals for the tournament, what I have to do in order to achieve my success. My long-term goal is to play for Canada.”

The under-16 championships, which will take place at Assiniboine Park Aug. 3-8, are just as much about competition as they are evaluation.

The round-robin tournament will feature two team’s from Ontario, teams B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan, and a combined team from Manitoba and Quebec — more on that in a bit — all playing cricket’s limited overs, one-day international format.

It’s the first chance the national cricket program gets to see some of the next budding stars of the game in the country, and there are a lot of people watching. The national program will identify a number of players throughout the tournament, which ultimately could lead to a spot on the Under-19 team that will compete for the World Cup, providing they can qualify, in 2018.

“The aim is, obviously, is to declare a champion,” Ron Dipchand, coach of the Manitoba under-16 team, said. “But the main focus is to select a group of 30-35 potential players to train for the next World Cup.”

Next week’s national tournament is the first step in the journey, with another big leap coming in next year’s Canada Cup in Toronto.

“This is the first time for some of them… some of them have been to three and four tournaments,” Dipchand said. “There’s tremendous pressure on them, especially this week. There will be 90 players here and only a third of them will be looked at. So you want to get a spot in the roughly 30 available.”

Manitoba currently has two players on the under-19 roster at the moment, with a World Cup coming up next year in Bangledesh.

Patel is one of the current crop of Manitoba’s players pipped to succeed at the same level.

“We want to make sure they get to the top,” Dipchand said. “Shlok is a strong player.”

Garvin Budhoo, president of the Manitoba Cricket Association, said Manitobans are always in tough when trying to make the national squad.

“It’s a big deal. Ontario has a large number of cricket players,” Budhoo said. “It will be tough to get spots again for the next World Cup team. But we’ve told the kids if you go and do well, there’s no way you can’t make the team and be a part of the next group of players.”

Manitoba will combine forces with Quebec for the tournament.

Quebec is sending four players to link up with the team here and its seven players.

Budhoo said it comes down to age, and not skill, for the reason of the combining of provinces.

“These players have to be born in September 1999 or after,” he said. “We’d love to have our own team, but there just aren’t enough (players) yet. Quebec is the having the same problem.”

The team of Manitoba-Quebec will be called Team Canada Combined during the tournament.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca