Five US junior tournaments in the pipeline

Hard on the heels of the USA Under-19 success in international cricket, plans have been announced for no less than five national youth tournaments to take place in the USA in 2006.

First on the calendar is Major League Cricket (MLC). It has announced that its Under-15 National Interstate Cricket Tournament is to be held in Nashville, Tennessee. The Nashville Cricket Club will host the tournament from May 27 to 29, and further details will soon be available from the MLC website.

This will be followed by two national tournaments in the Bay Area from June 23 to 26, announced by the USACA Cricket Association (USACA). An Under-15 and an Under-13 tournament have both been scheduled for the same weekend. Although U-13 and U-15 tournaments have been held occasionally in the USA in the past, this is the first time that USACA is sponsoring tournaments at this level.

Next up will be USACA's expanded version of its U-19 national tournament, splitting it into an Eastern and a Western Conference to be played from July 1 to 3. The Eastern Conference will be in New York, and the Western Conference in Northern California. There is to be an U-19 Super League between the top finishers in the two conferences, but no dates or venue have been announced.

Finally, an Interstate U-19 tournament is planned for Houston, Texas over the Memorial Day weekend, to be hosted by the North Texas Cricket Association and sponsored by MLC. Details will be announced later.

This is certainly a change from even a couple of years ago, when there were hardly any national youth events on the US cricket calendar. It remains to be seen how many of these will make it from the drawing board to the cricket field, but that they are being planned at all speaks to the newfound interest in youth cricket in the USA, and one hopes the momentum will continue.