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• Marsh named captain in Australia's T20 World Cup squad as Smith and Fraser-McGurk miss out

  Mitchell Marsh will captain Australia at next month's T20 World Cup, but Steve Smith and Jake Fraser-McGurk have been left out of the 15-man squad.

  Marsh, who has shared the duties on an interim basis since Aaron Finch's retirement, was named the Baggy Greens' permanent T20 skipper on Wednesday.

  Test captain Pat Cummins, fast bowler Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell have also been named in the squad, which features 11 of the players that were part of the team that won this tournament in 2021.

  However, there is no place for former skipper Smith following a difficult spell of form, while Fraser-McGurk is also absent despite his impressive form in the Indian Premier League.

  "This is an experienced squad with extensive World Cup experience that offers a variety of structures and covers the scenarios the panel believes will factor in the West Indies with the unique nature of the venues and our opponents," selection chief George Bailey said.

  "Steve Smith, Matt Short, Jason Behrendorff, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson and Xavier Bartlett were all part of long conversations, along with several others, including Jake Fraser-McGurk who is yet to play T20 International cricket but continues to impress and is developing rapidly.

  "Being constrained to a squad of 15 for World Cups is always a challenge given the different scenarios and options we’d like to cover.  

  "Ultimately, the balance of the final 15 needs to provide the best chance of being successful in this campaign."

  "It's been an immense privilege to play for my country and now an even greater honour to lead the squad to a World Cup," Marsh added.

  "We have had some strong success in recent times, and I am hopeful that will continue in what looks like a wide-open tournament."

  Australia will begin their tournament against Oman on June 5, while they will also play England, Scotland and Namibia in Group B.

  Australia's provisional squad:

  Mitchell Marsh (captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

• Jamaica to host T&T U-17s for two friendly games in week-long camp

  Jamaica's Under-17 team will host their Trinidad and Tobago counterparts for two international friendly encounters this weekend.

  The games, which forms part of a week-long camp for both teams, will also see the young Soca Warriors, who are scheduled to arrive in the island on Wednesday, lock horns with a local club team during their visit. The first game is scheduled for the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence, CHBC on Friday at 4:00pm, while the second encounter will take place on Sunday at 9:00am.

  Trinidad and Tobago will then close their visit against the youth team of a prominent club, next Tuesday.

  Both the young Reggae Boyz, to be guided by former Reggae Boy midfielder Altimont "Freddy" Butler, Carlton Simmonds and Vassel Reynolds, and the Shawn Cooper-coached young Soca Warriors are preparing for the Concacaf Men's Under-17 Championship which was pushed back to 2025. The tournament was initially scheduled for August this year.

  According to recently installed Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) president, Kieron Edwards, this friendly initiative is in line with the TTFA’s application to the FIFA Talent Development Scheme, which aims to provide additional resources to member associations for the elite youth national teams.

  Edwards insisted that there will be continuous efforts to provide opportunities for exposure and match preparation for the various national teams.

  “In keeping with the executive’s mantra to strengthen partnerships and our relationship with our brothers in CFU, we are pleased to be embarking on this journey to Jamaica,” said Edwards.

  “Despite the challenges, the commitment to the continued development of our high-performance programme shines through. This trip marks a pivotal step towards our U-17 team’s quest to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2025. It’s a testament to the dedication of all involved, securing this opportunity mere days after the new executive’s installation," he added.

  The current T&T U-17 selection features several players who have graduated from the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association High Performance Programme and competed at the CONCACAF Boys Under-15 Championship in the Dominican Republic last August, recording memorable wins against Costa Rica and Qatar.

  T&T squad: Antuan Louison, Seth Hadeed, Jonathan Mason (Fatima College); Alejandro Harper, Eran Mc Leod (CIC); Nikosi Foncette, Kyron Baptiste, Josiah Simmons, Jimally Renne (Presentation College, Sando); Jasai Theophilus, Jayden Christophe (QRC); Dimitre Jones, Keston Richards (Arima North Sec); Jaydon Caprietta, Jeremiah Daniel, Adasa Richardson, Antonio Hills, Mikhail Clement (Naparima College); Salim Soanes (St Benedict’s College); Necose Moore (Chaguanas North Sec); Riquelme Phillips (Speyside High School)

• Windies to test T20 World Cup readiness against South Africa, Australia in Jamaica and T&T; final squad to be named this week

  With the ICC Men’s Twenty 20 World Cup now just about a month away, Darren Sammy and his West Indies team will up the tempo on preparations, before testing their readiness for the June 1-29 global showpiece, with a final warm-up match against Australia in Trinidad and Tobago.

  Sammy’s final squad, which is expected to be named sometime this week, will be one of nine teams to travel to the Trinidad and Tobago in May for eight warm-up matches, four of which will take place at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, while the other four is scheduled for the historic Queen’s Park Oval. The teams will arrive in twin island republic on May 21.

  The revelation came from Cricket West Indies’s (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave during the recently-concluded CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, in Port of Spain.

  Grave explained that the final West Indies squad will not convene in full until they travel to Jamaica at the end of May to engage South Africa in three warm-up contests. However, he pointed out that there will be a camp in Antigua prior, which will involve members of the final squad, who are not plying their trade in the Indian Premier League.

  From Jamaica, the Rovman Powell-captained squad will then travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the clash against 50-over World Cup winners Australia, ahead of the tournament to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.

  West Indies, the 2012 and 2016 champions, are hunting a third T20 World Cup title.

   “We’re going to have a week-long preparation camp in Antigua from May 12, before heading to Jamaica. We’re then going to leave Jamaica and come here to Trinidad and Tobago for a week’s preparation, including playing at the historic Queen’s Park Oval on May 30, in an evening fixture against one of the tournament favourites Australia,” Grave shared.

  “That will probably be one of the only games in the warm-up schedule that will be ticketed, and we certainly hope that the fans here in Trinidad, and particularly those in Port of Spain, will come out and rally behind the West Indies in that warm-up match, which is the final game we’ll play before we head to Guyana for the opening game on June 2,” he added.

  West Indies, who are drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, will open against the latter at the Guyana National Stadium on June 2.

  Grave urged fans to come out and rally behind the West Indies outfit in their push to start the tournament on a high.

  “Making sure we have a huge party in Georgetown, and we get off to a winning start (will be crucial). We all know in these global tournaments, confidence and momentum are important and we can think of nothing better than starting with a victory in Guyana and ending it in Barbados on June 29 with a similar victory,” Grave said.