INDIANAPOLIS: Nitish Kumar of Canada will lead a 15-member Americas squad West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Regional 50-over first-class competition to be organised in Barbados commencing in January 2017, accordding to ICC Americas. Steven Taylor of USA will be his deputy. Both are exciting young leaders for their respective countries

Players from Canada, Bermuda and USA will compete against best players from the Caribbean, says ICC Americas. This fantastic opportunity, granted by the WICB, will be the second year that an ICC Americas team has been included in the senior event.

The Americas team will be hosted in Barbados for its preliminary round matches and takes on CCC Marooners in its first fixture of the event on January 26. The other teams in the Americas group are Barbados Pride, Guyana Jaguars and Jamaica Scorpions.

Americas team: Alex Amsterdam (USA), Nicholas Standford (USA), Cecil Pervez (Canada), Nikhil Dutta (Canada), Fahad Babar (USA), Nitish Kumar (Canada) (C), Hamza Tariq (Canada), Saad Bin Zafar (Canada), Jasdeep Singh (USA), Srimantha Wijeyeratne (Canada), Kamau Leverock (Bermuda), Steven Taylor (USA) (VC), Muhammed Ahsan Ali Khan (USA), Timil Patel (USA) and Timroy Allen (USA).

The squad includes a number of returning players from the group that represented the region earlier this year and also includes some debutants following strong performances at a number of recent events including the K. A. Auty Cup, World Cricket League Division 4 and the Canada v Bermuda series in Bermuda. Talented Bermudian all-rounder Delray Rawlins was unfortunately unavailable for selection due to his duties with English County, Sussex and England U19s.

The coaches of the Americas squad will be announced soon. We wish the squad all the best as they represent the region.