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Timroy Allen ends two-year hiatus, returns to USA squad for T20 Qualifiers

The destructive finisher who also bowls both medium pace and offspin has been off the radar from major competitive cricket since 2017

Timroy Allen gets in position to take a catch during training  •  Peter Della Penna

Timroy Allen gets in position to take a catch during training  •  Peter Della Penna

Former Jamaica Tallawahs allrounder Timroy Allen, who has not played for USA since the 2017 World Cricket League Division Three tournament, has been recalled as one of four changes in USA's T20I squad that will head to Bermuda for the T20 World Cup Qualifier Americas Regional Final from August 18-25.
Allen, a destructive finisher who also bowls both medium pace and offspin, has been off the radar from major competitive cricket since leaving the Tallawahs squad midway through the 2017 season to focus on his family-run pest control and landscaping business. However, a three-month central contract from USA has brought him back to the game with the possibility that he might get a long-term extension based on performance.
The 32-year-old did enough to impress newly-hired USA director of cricket Kiran More at USA's recent intra-squad selection camp at Woodley Park in Los Angeles, finishing as the joint-leading wicket-taker with five wickets in three trial matches. Former South African international Rusty Theron also claimed five wickets at the squad camp but according to sources he was left out of the team traveling to Bermuda due to complications with his US residency status.
Sources have stated that Theron, who moved to Florida in 2015, is in the midst of applying for permanent residency. This includes submitting his current passport, which may not be back in his possession by the time USA's squad is supposed to depart for Bermuda, leaving him unable to travel. Theron is now looking at the ODI tri-series series against Papua New Guinea and Namibia in September to make his USA debut.
Allen is one of four changes to USA's maiden T20I squad that played a pair of matches against UAE in March. The other notable incoming player is Cameron Gannon, the 30-year-old pace bowler from Queensland who represented Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League and has 22 first-class matches to his name. Sources have stated Gannon, a US passport holder, was invited to USA's squad camp by David Saker, the former Australian bowling coach, who was brought on board as a USA consultant coach in July.
The other two arrivals into the USA T20 squad are left-arm spinning allrounders Nisarg Patel and Karima Gore. The 31-year-old Nisarg was in USA's squad for WCL Division Three in Oman last November but never made it into the starting XI and hasn't played for USA since February 2018. The 21-year-old Gore made his USA debut on the tour of UAE in March and played a key role helping the team secure ODI status at WCL Division Two in Namibia a month later.
The players to make way from USA's T20I squad are Jannisar Khan and Roy Silva, who were not invited to the LA camp, Elmore Hutchinson, who turned 37 on this past Sunday and has seen his opportunities steadily dwindle and Nosthush Kenjige who, despite being USA's highest wicket-taker in the last round of T20 World Cup Americas Regional Qualifying, has fallen behind in an increasingly strong spin-bowling line-up.
USA play Bermuda, Canada and Cayman Islands in the double round-robin event. The top two teams advance to the 14-team T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE beginning October 11.
USA squad: Timroy Allen, Cameron Gannon, Karima Gore, Aaron Jones, Ali Khan, Jaskaran Malhotra (wk), Xavier Marshall, Saurabh Netravalkar (capt.), Monank Patel, Nisarg Patel, Timil Patel, Jessy Singh, Steven Taylor, Hayden Walsh Jr.

Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo's USA correspondent @PeterDellaPenna