Kesrick Williams picked for Canada’s first 20/20 cricket tournament

Vincentian Kesrick Williams is among several West Indians who were drafted for the inaugural Global T/20 Canada cricket tournament.

Williams, 28, will play for the Toronto Nationals franchise in the tournament.

A right-arm fast bowler, Williams, apart from representing his native St Vincent and the Grenadines, has played for the Windward Islands, and the Combined Campuses and Colleges, in regional tournaments in teh West Indies.

He has also made his mark on the Twenty/20 format and at One Day Internationals for the West Indies, in 20/20 for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and for Rajshahi Kings in the Bangladesh Premier League.

But as he awaits his start with the Toronto Nationals, Williams was also selected by the St Lucia Stars in this year’s CPL, moving from the Jamaican Tallawahs, after two season.

As a member of the Toronto Nationals, Williams will be “at home”, as he would have fellow West Indians as his team mates.

Two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain, St Lucian Darren Sammy; Johnson Charles, also of St Lucia and Trinidadian Kieron Pollard, are also with the Toronto Nationals, while Trinidadian Phil Simmons is the team’s coach.

Also drafted are the Jamaican pair of Chris Gayle and Andre Russell and Trinidad and Tobago’s Evin Lewis, who were snapped up by Vancouver Knights.

The Vancouver Knights also selected West Indies T/20 wicketkeeper-batsman Chadwick Walton and left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell, both of Jamaica; Steven Jacobs of Guyana and Bermudian all-rounder Kamau Leverock.

Fellow Trinidad and West Indies players Lendl Simmons, Tion Webster and Rayad Emrit, along with former West Indies speedster, Barbadian Fidel Edwards, are also in the line-up.

Sunil Narine will headline the Montreal Tigers squad, along with fellow Trinidadian Denesh Ramdin.

Meanwhile, former Guyana Under-15 and Under-19 player Jeremy Gordon, who has since represented Guyana, is in Vancouver Knights set up.

Joining Gordon, with a similar background, is Nicholas Kirton, who represented Barbados at the Under-19 level, but has moved on to play for Canada at the senior level.
Winnipeg Hawks, meanwhile, will have the Bravo brothers, Dwayne and Darren, in their ranks for the campaign.

The West Indians in those franchises will be joined by a Cricket West Indies team, which is another of the units, along with the Edmonton Royals.

But the biggest announcement from the Global T/20 tournament, is the drafting of banned Australian pair of former captain Steve Smith and his vice-captain, David Warner.

Both were banned by Cricket Australia for one year, following a ball tampering incident in a test match versus South Africa, in South Africa.

Smith is in the Toronto Nationals team and Warner is a member of the Winnipeg Hawks.

The six-team tournament, which runs from June 28 to July 15.