UAE assistant Dom Telo believes the national selectors will have a difficult task in selecting the best Under-16 and U-19 squads after being impressed with the players’
More than 40 players, who beat more than 100 hopefuls thanks to their performances in the inter-emirate tournament, have been put through their paces at the ICC Academy in Dubai for the last three weeks.
It’s a camp that will run for the next few weeks with the U-16 squad announced in mid-July while the U-19s is scheduled for August.
It acts as the final stage of the process and those who make the final cut will see them test themselves against international competition in September’s U-16 ACC West Asia Championship in Qatar. For the U-19s, they will have more time to prepare for their Asia Cup qualifiers in Kuwait, scheduled to take place in October.
Telo is no stranger to the UAE youngsters having taken the helm at last year’s U-19 tournament and the former Derbyshire cricketer is pleased with the talent he’s seen.
“The majority of the guys I’ve worked with last year are in the same stage and there were a few players that I wanted to look at,” said the 31-year-old.
“It was a tough time of the year since the training camp began during Ramadan and some of them fasting but for them to come in the middle of the day and put in the hard effort is really good.
“With the sessions so far, it really looks like there’s going to be good competition for spots and the boys have really been putting in the yard yards which makes it exciting.”
He added: “You can see with the guys that they want to get better and with there being a real sense in pride of playing for your country, then from a coaching point of view, that’s half the battle won because they all want to improve.”
Former UAE captain Khurram Khan is also offering his expertise to the budding cricketers and Telo believes it’s great to have him on board during the camp.
“It’s lovely someone to have like Khurram around and he can give his knowledge and skills to the boys which is fantastic,” he said.