Cliff Richards has been selected as Captain of Team St Helena heading to the Sub Regional Qualifiers in Africa.
The St Helena Cricket Association has just announced the names of the cricket squad to travel to Nigeria later this year and their Captain as they head for the playoffs.
The team, selected by head coach Nadeem Ahmed, attended a middle training session over the weekend and at the end were each given a letter confirming their inclusion in the squad.
The overall training squad has now been reduced to 14 players and an additional 2 players have been added as reserve players.
Derek Richards, President of the Cricket Association, told St FM that this is a proud moment for the Association, the selected players and St Helena as this group will represent the Island in the Sub Regional Africa Qualifiers in Group C.
The team met again last night1 to plan their way forward in a meeting where Cliff Richards has been named Captain for this year’s tournament and he will now work with the coach and the team in planning a way forward.
Cliff, on his selection and appointment as Captain, said “I feel truly honored to be selected as captain of the National Team for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers in Nigeria. I would like to thank the squad and coach Nadeem for entrusting me with the responsibility of leading the team.
My vision for team St Helena is simple, to be the best that we can be. I believe that each one of us has a unique strength and together, we can achieve great things.
I can assure everyone that I am committed to this team and to our shared goal of qualification. I am willing to put in the time, effort, and dedication required to help build an extraordinary team. I believe in us, in our potential, and in what we can achieve together.
Let’s work together and make our island proud.”
Senior player Andrew Yon who will be making his 4th appearance on the international scene, said that he is pleased that Cliff has progressed to this level and is looking forward to working with him to take Team St Helena to another level.
Coach Nadeem Ahmed during the meeting, said “ choosing a captain was a difficult choice because this squad has many good and experienced players. However, a captain/leader in my view has to have 3 qualities:
Concern and respect for his peers, he must put the team before himself and breed a positive energy that uplifts the team.
Looking at these qualities Cliff Richards stood out and hence became my preferred candidate. Cliffs man managment skills and the respect his teammates have for him was something that really stood out for me.
In the period I was away he constantly showed care about his own game and the game of his teammates by checking in with me twice a week without me asking him to do so. It was for these factors i felt Cliff is the correct choice to lead this team on our journey to qualification.
Two times captain (Botswana 2018 and Rwanda 2022) Scott Crowie who was also selected as a part of the squad, shared his view “the captain’s role is very complex one that involves you as an individual thinking for others before yourself….in order to balance this it will take great mental strength to balance the needs of the squad as well as concentrating on your own game…. Some may say having the Captain sign by your name is a great honour.. and it is, but it also comes with great responsibility….. I have no doubt that cliff will be a great leader and I look forward to playing under his guidance”.
No vice-captain was selected but around Cliff will be a wealth of cricketing knowledge and experience.
Team St Helena for the short term will continue training and building for the tournament.
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