Impressive showing earns Rookies CPL contracts

Highly rated USA international Steven Taylor, who is also the first cricketer from the United States to score a T20 international hundred and Canadian Offie Nikhil Dutta were among the six cricketers who impressed in the training camp leading into the ‘party’ of a CPL earning contracts with the various franchises in the league.

The six players included were Taylor(Barbados Tridents),  off-spinner, Nikhil  Dutta (St Lucia Zouks), West Indies Under-19 player of the year, Shimron Hetmeyer (Guyana Amazon Warriors) and former West Indies Under-19 captain, Ramaal Lewis (Jamaica Tallawahs).

The most prominent names among these were stalwarts in their own right Steven Taylor and Nikhil Dutta. The former was part of the Sanath Jayasuriya led International World XI in an exhibition T20 game at Karachi in 2012 at the age of 18. He shone in the 2013 world T20 qualifiers in the UAE as well scoring 271 runs at an average of 38.71, emerging as the tournament’s leading run getter.

Dutta, also reffered to as the Canadian Sunil Narine, rose to fame when he was named the MVP in the 2013 ICC Americas U-19 Division One tournament held in Canada and therefore helped his country qualify for the 2014 ICC U-19 world Cup in the UAE, he also emerged as the leading wicket taker in the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 tournament where he averaged a staggering 9.41.

“Competition for a place in the CPL squads has been fierce. The coaches have been very impressed with the quality of young players on show, so it was hard to narrow it down to one player per squad. These six guys have a fantastic opportunity to make a name for themselves on the big stage, and we wish them all the best for CPL 2015,” Tom Moody, CPL Director of Cricket, said: