Outerbridge to lead Bermuda’s squad of 14
Stephen Outerbridge will skipper Bermuda on home soil as the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the six squads that will compete in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 3 tournament.Italy, Nepal, Oman, Uganda, the USA and Bermuda will fight to finish in the top two to gain promotion to Division 2, with the bottom two teams relegated to Division 4.The competition, which runs from April 28 to May 5, will be held at the National Sports Centre, St David’s and Somerset Cricket Club.“The team that has been selected has worked hard over the past four months in preparation for this very important tournament,” said coach Arnold Manders. “All squad players have made a good account of themselves during the selection process and it was a difficult decision in selecting the final 14 players.“The make-up of the side gives us the best opportunity to take advantage of the local conditions. We also have a wonderful mix of experience and youth that should give us the best possible chance of completing our aim of promotion to Division 2. We had great support from the fans over the weekend while playing Melbourne CC at Somerset Cricket Club and look forward to all the local supporters coming out during the tournament to get behind us and give us some extra backing that I hope will lift us over all these very good sides."The top two sides from Division 3 will advance to the ICC Cricket World Cup qualifiers, which will be held in New Zealand in 2014 and feature ten of the leading Associate and Affiliate teams.The top two sides from the qualifying event will then advance to the 14-team ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, to be held in Australia and New Zealand, where they will compete against the ten Full Members on a global stage.Lloyd Fray, president of the Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) and chairman of the selection committee added: "I am very confident and proud to be able to confirm the 14 players and four player support personnel for this crucial tournament. The Board has provided an outstanding preparation for our squad, the players have responded very well to the challenges set and the expectations that are now required in international cricket at this level.“It was a very difficult task and I am encouraged by the level of debate that was needed to finally get to the 14 selected players. I applaud them and all the players that have invested time in our programme — I fully expect that we can achieve a deserving result later this month. I urge our public to support our players, with more passion than we have seen from the Nepalese crowds, in our quest to return to the Cricket World Cup."The match officials for the event include England’s Richard Illingworth of the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires, who will also act as a mentor, helping to educate and guide the umpires throughout the tournament as part of the ongoing ICC initiative for umpire development outside the full members. He will be part of a team of officials from six countries. David Jukes will be the referee for the tournament.SquadsBermuda Stephen Outerbridge (captain), Jason Anderson, Lionel Cann, Jekon Edness, Treadwell Gibbons, David Hemp, Malachi Jones, Greg Maybury, Tre Manders, Delray Rawlins, Jacobi Robinson, Dion Stovell, Rodney Trott and Janeiro TuckerItaly Alessandro Bonora (captain), Damian Graham Crowley, Gayashan De Silva Munasinghe, Luis Di Giglio, Dilan Fernando Arsakulasuriya, Fida Hussain, Dinidu Marage, Damian Muthunamagonnage Fernando, Andrew Northcote, Hayden Patrizi Dell’agnello, Vincenzo Pennazza, Peter Petricola, Michael Raso and Carl SandriNepal Paras Khadka (captain), Pradeep Airee, Prithu Baskota, Binod Bhandari, Amrit Bhattarai, Shakti Prasad Gauchan, Subash Prasa Khakurel, Gyanendra Malla, Anil Kumar Mandal, Basant Regmi, Sanjam Regmi, Chandra Sawad, Sharad Vesawkar and Rahul Kumar VishwakarmaOman Vaibhav Wategaonkar (captain), Sultan Ahmed, Qais Al Said, Syed Amir Ali, Munis Ansari, Ghazanfar Iqbal, Syed Aamir Kaleem, Ajay Lalcheta, Sufyan Mahmood, Hemal Mehta, Nileshkumar Parmar, Rajesh Ranpura, Zeeshan Siddiqui and Jatinder SinghUganda Davis Arinaitwe (captain), Benjamin Musoke, Roger Mukasa, Laurence Sematimba, Frank Nsubuga, Brian Masaba, Arthur Kyobe, Charles Waiswa, Michael Ndiko, Deusdedit Muhumuza, Henry Senyondo, Arthur Ziraba, Jonathan Sebanja and Richard OkiaUSA Steve Massiah (captain), Danial Ahmed, Timroy Allen, Orlando Baker, Barrington Bartley, Akeem Dodson, Muhammad Asad Ghous, Elmore Hutchinson, Naseer Jamali, Rashard Marshall, Neil Mcgarrell, Sushil Nadkarni, Japen Patel and Steven TaylorUmpires: Richard Illingworth (England), Courtney Young (Cayman Islands), Roger Dill (Bermuda), Steven Douglas (Bermuda), Silvan Taylor (USA), Niels Bagh (Denmark), Viswanadan Kalidas (Malaysia)