By IANS,
Brisbane : The Bangalore-based National Cricket Academy (NCA) will try to become the second Indian side after Karnataka to win the Emerging Players Tournament to be held here in July.
NCA will compete with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and teams from New Zealand and South Africa in a unique format comprising Twenty20 and 50-over matches, Cricket Australia (CA) here Thursday.
It will be the first time that the NCA will compete in the tournament in which some of the world’s best budding players compete at various venues. The tournament runs July 14-26.
The top two teams at the end of the league phase will contest the 50-over final at the Allan Border Field.
The Karnataka team had taken part in the tournament from 2005 to 2007. They won the first edition of the tournament in 2005 while South Africa claimed the honours in the last two years.
“The Emerging Players Tournament provides a fantastic competition for our scholars to put their training programe in to match practice. The tournament is growing in profile each year due to the role it has played in developing international cricketers,” CA’s Centre of Excellence manager Belinda Clark said.
“For the first time, the tournament will be contested by the best young talent selected by their respective boards from South Africa, India, New Zealand and Australia, and we expect some excellent cricket to be played.”
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) will represent the host country. “We have a great list of scholarship holders this year and I’m really looking forward to seeing them develop in the lead up to this tournament,” said AIS coach Brian McFadyen.
Some of the players who competed in the tournament and went on to play international cricket are Robin Uthappa (India), Adam Voges, Ben Hilfenhaus and Shaun Marsh (Australia), Jacob Oram, Shane Bond, Hamish Marshall, Mark Gillespie, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton and Michael Papps (New Zealand), Neil McKenzie and Robin Peterson (South Africa).
Itinerary:
July 14: Twenty20: South Africa v NCA, India at Redlands Cricket Club 1; AIS v New Zealand at Redlands Cricket Club 1
July 15: Twenty20: South Africa v New Zealand at Redlands Cricket Club 1; AIS v NCA, India at Redlands Cricket Club 2
July 17: 50-overs: South Africa v NCA, India at Sandgate; AIS v New Zealand at University
July 19 July 50-overs: South Africa v AIS at Allan Border Field; New Zealand v NCA, India at University
July 20: 50-overs: South Africa v New Zealand at University; AIS v NCA, India at Sandgate
July 22: 50-overs: South Africa v NCA, India at Sandgate; AIS v New Zealand at Allan Border Field
July 23: 50-overs: South Africa v AIS at Sandgate; New Zealand v NCA, India at Allan Border Field
July 25: Twenty20: NCA, India v AIS at Redlands Cricket Club; South Africa v New Zealand at Redlands Cricket Club
July 26: Finals (50-overs): First v second teams at Allan Border Field