WEST INDIES ACADEMY PLAYERS RETURN FOR RED BALL HIGH-PERFORMANCE CAMP

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – The members of the West Indies Academy returned to action for a three-match series as part of their High-Performance Camp. They started training on 3 June and the camp will run until 14 June. All training sessions and the three two-day matches will be at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG).

The players in the camp will be all the West Indies Academy team members who recently won the Headley Weekes Tri Series first-class competition. They will be joined by other aspiring players, some of whom have played at the first-class level and others who featured in the West Indies Rising Stars age group programmes.

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For the upcoming matches, Team “A” will be led by Nyeem Young, the allrounder who was at the helm during the Headley Weekes Tri Series and the CG United Super50 last November. Team “B” will be led by Kimani Melius, the former West Indies Rising Stars Under 19 captain and Windward Islands Volcanoes batter.

Graeme West, Cricket West Indies (CWI) High Performance Manager outlined that the camp in a continuation of the work which has been ongoing for the last 10 months.

“The main objective of the camp is to assess the squad’s holistic progress as we approach the 12-month mark of the programme. Not only have the players developed technically and tactically, they have received full-time physical support, dedicated mental skills programs and all 15 players have had personal development programs which included the completion of the Level One Coaching Qualification,” West said. “The performances in the Headley-Weekes Series were hugely encouraging and a credit to all the players and to the staff members who have worked with the squad throughout the year. Despite their limited first-class experience the players prepared well and were able to express themselves in all disciplines for sustained periods, one of the key objectives introduced by Head Coach Andre Coley.”

West added:

“Kirk McKenzie’s promotion to the ‘A’ Team demonstrated to all the Academy players that hard work and a desire to improve all aspects of your game will be rewarded, we have high expectations for our young cricketers and the Academy program will continue to challenge the players in Year Two. “By bringing in additional talent to the camp and putting them alongside the current squad we will be able to assess the depth we have in the system and start to identify those players that will be pushing for places on the Academy programme as they become available.”

The West Indies Academy was launched last year. It functions as a nexus between regional junior and senior teams while supporting the development of talented players between the ages of 19 and 25. The Academy’s objectives include: the management of talent; personal development – develop person first and then the player; accelerating player development and increasing readiness of players for international cricket; as well as building capacity of players, support staff and high-performance resources.

SQUADS

Team A