U/15 Regional Tournament to be a close contest
U/15 Regional Tournament to be a close contest
The Pepsi ICC EAP U/15 Cricket 8's Trophy 2009 is anticipated to be one of the most awaited EAP junior tournaments in recent memory, with seven teams fighting it out to be crowned champions at the Under-15 level.
PNG are again favourites to win the event after comfortably winning the previous EAP U/15 tournament, but will face stiff competition from several other participants who continue to develop quickly at the grassroots level.
All eyes will be on Vanuatu which was relegated to second place in Samoa two years ago, and under the watchful eye of Coach Pierre Chilia and with talents such as captain Callum Blake in the side, they will no doubt be formidable opponents.
Indonesia, having won the previous two Pepsi ICC Global Development Programme Awards for Best Junior Cricket Initiative for their implementation of the Ultra-milk Under-15 Cricket Development Programme, will have high expectations from its squad. The program has included more than 20,000 Indonesian children over the past 12 months and will certainly ensure that Indonesia has a strong team in place.
Fiji, Samoa, Japan and Tonga will also be looking to improve significantly on its standings from the 2007 tournament. All these Member countries now have successful and established Under-15 domestic competitions.
The Pepsi ICC EAP U/15 Cricket 8's Trophy 2009 is being hosted by Cricket Indonesia in Jakarta from the 14 to 18 July 2009 at Cicibur, Karawachi, Karawang and Indorama.
The matches will be 20 overs per side, with several rule alterations to promote all players getting a chance to participate in each match. This includes the requirement for all teams to nominate four batsmen and four bowlers prior to each match, with rules in place enforcing that nominated batsmen must bat at the top of the order and nominated bowlers bowl first. In addition to this, every run scored forward of the crease at the non-strikers end will be awarded double runs, to promote the use of correct technical cricket shots.
With seven teams participating, a bye is required once for all teams, however during this space in the fixture, all teams except Japan will be playing a friendly match against an Indonesian invitational squad selected from the Ultra-milk Under-15 Cricket Development Program.
Pepsi ICC EAP U/15 Cricket 8's Trophy 2009 details:
When: 14 to 18 July, 2009
Where: Cicibur, Karawachi, Karawang and Indorama grounds in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Who: Participating teams are Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, PNG, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.
For all match results, statistics, fixtures and updates, click here