The Fiji National U19 Cricket Squad will go through a vigorous 3 day trial beginning next Wednesday as they prepare for the East Asia Pacific U19 Competition in the Sunshine Coast, Queensland from the 1st – 8th of July.
The majority of the squad have been training together since March and even competed in the recent Easter competition where the national squad reached the semi finals before losing to eventual winners the Suva Warriors.
Cricket Fiji High Performance Manager Joe Rika is currently working with the squad and is impressed with the squad and the culture in the team.
“I’m very impressed with how the boys have developed over the last 3 months. We’ve created a balanced programme for the boys that should help them find their pick at the time of the tournament and we’re happy with what we’ve seen so far”, said Rika.
The boys have been working with Cricket Fiji CEO, Inoke Lesuma and national selector Alex Konrote since March and will look to step up as they approach the business end of their preparations.
The rest of the players from Lau have finally joined the squad and will begin training right away as the coaching staff work on identifying the 14 players that will carry Fiji’s flag in Queensland.
Majority of the players that have made the squad have progressed through from the national U17 side that competed in the EAP U17 Championships in Lautoka last year finishing second behind favourites PNG.
“we’ve managed to retain the services of Freddy Thomas who worked with the U17 team last year and with the experience of former national reps Inoke Lesuma and Alex Konrote, the boys have a good group here to assist them”, Rika added.
The final 14 players will be named on the evening of Friday the 24th following the completion of trials with the team flying out on the 30th of June to Queensland.
Fiji plays Samoa, Vanuatu and Samoa for the one spot up for grabs to participate in the ICC U19 World Cup scheduled for 2014.
Press Release