Cricket Newfoundland and Labrador is sending a strong team to compete at the Atlantic T20 tournament being held next weekend in PEI. Fourteen players are traveling to Charlottetown, led by captain Rakesh Negi. Thry will play a round-robin against hosts PEI, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Québec.
This is the team’s third Atlantic T20 tournament following the establishment of Cricket Newfoundland and Labrador in 2010. Last year they finished third, beating PEI and New Brunswick, and captain Rakesh Negi believes the team should improve this year. “We’re sending an excellent squad this year, with the best performers from last year boosted by new recruits and the best players from our local league“. Financial support from national body Cricket Canada and sponsors Tata Steel/ New Millennium Iron has reduced barriers that players faced in participating.

Negi believes the team’s strength lies in the bowling, with seven front line bowlers with a mix of pace and spin. Coach Sentill Selvamani is also optimistic “Last year’s tournament was scheduled early in June and the team barely had the opportunity to practice; this year we have the advantage of a full year of work with tape-ball and hard-ball cricket, plus a month of intense work with the squad”. The batting has also improved this year and was bolstered by the late addition of last summer’s league MVP Kavish Srivastava, who only this week obtained permission to play, following a badly broken leg in the indoor league.

The team opens against hosts PEI on Friday, plays Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on Saturday and concludes against a powerful Quebec squad on Sunday. All matches will be played at Cricket PEI’s ground at Tea Hill Park in Stratford just outside Charlottetown. This dedicated facility will be officially opened on the Friday of the tournament, the first new cricket grounds on PEI in more than 100 years.

Full team:
Rakesh Negi (Captain), Sentill Selvamani (Coach), Golam Moula, Saad Jahangir, Nick Baxter, Asim Kamran, Kathir, Abbas Haider, Gurman Khurana, Ashwin Gupta, Alex Dias, Saad Shaifan Ahmed, Shameem Islam and Kavish Srivastava.