Willow Cuts will be a good test for Warwick's youth

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22: Warwick will be playing one of Bermuda’s best teams, Willow Cuts, in the Western Counties on Saturday at Southampton Rangers.

I’ll just be coaching as I don’t qualify to represent Warwick as I haven’t played for the club for two years and I don’t live in the area, but that’s okay.

It gives an opportunity for another youngster to get a chance to play in a big game like this.

I know I’ve said this multiple times this year, but we have made the commitment to play our youth and at least five will play every game. We may have as many as seven or eight play on Saturday.

Daniel Morgan will ably skipper the squad and he’ll have help from our veterans Dwayne Adams and Garry Williams. We may have one guest player, but we’re not too sure of that at the moment.

We just want to get the youngsters exposed to this higher level of competition. This is a reward for them being part of our youth programme over the years and remaining loyal to Warwick. For them, this will be the highlight of their season.

We like to play all our Under-17 team but some are away on vacation  so some of our Under-15s will get an opportunity.

This will give them a chance to progress by testing themselves against older players. This will also give the club an opportunity to see how they perform under a little bit of pressure.

We are looking at developing them and it will be three or four seasons before we can seriously think about contending for some trophies.

For me, being on the sidelines, will be a good start to my coaching career. I love playing, but this will give me a different perspective.

T20

It was great the ICC World Twenty/20 trophy was here. A lot of credit has to be given to Neil Speight for making that happen. He sits on a lot of ICC committees and has an influence that can make things happen.

The fact that the ICC Division 3 competition is coming here is due to the work of Neil.

You certainly won’t see the trophy travel to every country in the world and it’s an honour to have had it here.

This is a good thing to help promote the game of cricket.

It just goes to show we are a cricket nation and cricket plays a large role in our lives.

Cricket is our national sport and always will be.