USA Under-19s to tour India

Junior cricket is again on the march in the USA. On the heels of the USA Under-17s tour of India, an Under-19s squad put together by the Cricket Academy of New Jersey will be going to India as well.

The tour has the full blessings and enthusiastic support of Hemant Buch, whose organisation has an exclusive contract to conduct all junior tournaments and programs in the USA. "All US cricketers will welcome the Texas Academy's success in putting together an Under-19 team of this calibre", Buch told Cricinfo, noting that most of the players had already performed with distinction in the 2007 US Nationals, and the Americas U-19 tournament where they took top honours. "The more such programs succeed, the better off US cricket will be."

To anyone who is familiar with US junior cricket, the squad is an impressive one. It includes batsmen who are in excellent form, several genuinely fast bowlers, some excellent fielders and a few well-trained spinners. They could give any league team in the USA a run for its money, and that is saying a lot.

The team leaves on Thursday December 20 from New Jersey. Their arrival in Ahmedabad is followed by practice and a couple of rest days, but the pace picks up quickly with a total of nine matches in 11 days. Only the young, it would seem, have the adrenalin to survive such a hectic schedule.