Cricket in Puerto Rico | I'm not deliberately neglecting this - I have three uni presentations to do

[Aislabie]

Morning all. I think it's fair to say I have no real motivation to run leagues here anymore, but that doesn't mean that I don't still want to be involved in this bit of the forum.

This time, I'm going to be writing a story, but it's going to involve a little bit of audience participation. Although I still plan to follow a certain storyline, you guys will help me to flesh it out a little bit. Your first was to choose which of four countries would be having me take over their cricketing journey:

Brunei,

Ethiopia,

Portugal or

Puerto Rico.

You chose...

​

|

Puerto Rico
Who am I? | Felix Valenzuela (LHB, WKT, 18) PLAYER PROFILE Who's he? |Frustrated by the lack of opportunities to play rep baseball, he plans to turn himself into a cricketer. Mid-wicket is his favourite area.
Where are they? |ICC Americas Region
Biggest opponents? |

Argentina,

Bermuda,

Canada,

United States

As you may be able to tell, I've slightly redesigned the structure of world cricket. This story starts at the beginning of the (very different) qualifying pathway for the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England, but I don't want to give much more away than that.

Puerto Rico are starting at the lowest rung of that ladder: The ICC Americas Region qualifying tournament, where they will come up against eleven other teams from their region to fight for one of two places at the Global Qualifier.

 

[El Loco]

Haven't followed a story in a while. The Puerto Rico storyline intrigues me a lot!

 

[blockerdave]

I like the idea of the 39-year old leg spinner bowling portugal to the world cup, then making a switch to twirl england to ashes glory in australia 2021

 

[CerealKiller]

Puerto Rico all day

 

[VC the slogger]

I'd love to see a Puerto Rico cricket team progress. And I'm not saying that just because of Despacito.

 

[Pinch hitter]

I am also looking forward to Felix Valenzuela Story...

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

I like the idea of the 39-year old leg spinner bowling portugal to the world cup, then making a switch to twirl england to ashes glory in australia 2021

This post has sparked a lot of intrigue from me.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

Puerto Rico does interest me. Although Puerto Rico is part of US territory.

 

[Aislabie]

The Puerto Rico storyline intrigues me a lot!

You and many others it seems!

I like the idea of the 39-year old leg spinner bowling portugal to the world cup, then making a switch to twirl england to ashes glory in australia 2021

Well, I certainly couldn't promise that Perry would keep playing long enough to reach the World Cup - even if he went full Brad Hogg he'd probably only make it as far as the 2023 World Cup. His storyline would probably lead more towards the coaching side of things.

I'd love to see a Puerto Rico cricket team progress. And I'm not saying that just because of Despacito.

I actually had to google that, before realising that this is the song my mate plays all the time. That said, I have no complaints because the lass in the music video is seriously gorgeous.

I am also looking forward to Felix Valenzuela Story...

Based on the early responses, I've started fleshing out the details for this one so I can get moving with it more swiftly.

Although Puerto Rico is part of US territory.

True, but places like Bermuda, Caymans, Turks & Caicos and so on are British territory, but distinct enough that they have their own sports teams. Puerto Rico has a similar precedent in other sports.

 

[Till Valhalla]

Any one of this two, Brunei and Ethiopia.

 

[Aislabie]

Felix Valenzuela
Puerto Rico

Left-handed batsman
Wicket-keeper
Born: 24 May 1999

Player Profile
Felix Valenzuela was born in San Juan and had spent most of his youth pursuing a career in baseball before being told that his habit of hitting ground-balls would stand in his way if he ever wanted to have a professional career. Disillusioned with the sport, he joined a local cricket club after noticing that they seemed to also hit the ball along the ground a lot of the time. His previous incarnation as a first-base fielder, allied with some technical coaching, has turned him into a very natural wicket-keeper, and there is even talk of him being selected for the upcoming ICC Americas CWCQ tournament in Canada.

Statistics

|Mat.| |Inn.|N/O|Runs|Ave.|Balls|S/R|H/S|50s|100s| |Ct|St|RO
Capped matches|3|-|2|1|14|14.00|14|100.0|13*|-|-|-|3|-|-

​

Photos

Game-by-Game Summary

Performance|For|Against|At|Date|Scorecard
0ct/0st, 13* (8)|Puerto Rico

|Cayman Islands

|King City (1)

|04 May 2018| Non-List A
2ct/0st|Puerto Rico

|Turks & Caicos Islands

|King City (4)

|02 Jun 2018| Non-List A
1ct/0st, 1 (6)|Puerto Rico

|United States

|King City (2)

|31 May 2018| Non-List A

​

 

[Aislabie]

ICC Confirms World Cup Qualifying Schedule

At the conclusion of its board meeting, the ICC has confirmed some small changes to the format and qualifying procedure for the World Cup in England next year. The tournament will see sixteen teams vie for the trophy, with the eight quarter-finalists from the 2015 given automatic berths in the tournament, with the remaining eight ODI teams set to play in a qualifying tournament beforehand.

Teams automatically qualified for 2019 Cricket World Cup

Group A|Group B|Group C|Group D

Australia|

New Zealand|

South Africa|

India

West Indies|

Bangladesh|

Pakistan|

Sri Lanka
Qualifier 3 | Qualifier 4 | Qualifier 1 | Qualifier 2 Qualifier 6 | Qualifier 5 | Qualifier 8 | Qualifier 7

Teams automatically qualified for 2018 Global Qualifier

Group A|Group B|Group C|Group D

England|

Ireland|

Zimbabwe|

Afghanistan

Papua New Guinea|

Hong Kong|

United Arab Emirates|

Scotland
Asia 1 | Afro-Oceania 1 | Europe 1 | Americas 1 Afro-Oceania 2 | Europe 2 | Americas 2 | Asia 2

While the World Cup and the Global Qualifier will both follow similar sixteen-team, 31-match formats, the regional qualifiers that form the bottom level of the qualifying pyramid will be slightly different. They will all be twelve-team, 27-match events, each providing two teams for the Global Qualifier. The four regional tournaments will occur thus:

Teams invited to the 2018 Afro-Oceania Qualifier
To be held in Windhoek, Namibia

Group A|Group B|Group C

Kenya|

Namibia|

Uganda

Tanzania|

Fiji|

Vanuatu

Nigeria|

Ghana|

Botswana

Samoa|

Rwanda|

Japan

Teams invited to the 2018 Americas Qualifier
To be held in King City, Canada

Group A|Group B|Group C

Canada|

United States|

Bermuda

Suriname|

Cayman Islands|

Argentina

Belize|

Turks & Caicos Islands|

Bahamas

Panama|

Puerto Rico |

Brazil

Teams invited to the 2018 Asia Qualifier
To be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Group A|Group B|Group C

Nepal|

Oman|

Singapore

Saudi Arabia|

Malaysia|

Qatar

Thailand|

Kuwait|

Bahrain

South Korea|

Tajikistan|

China

Teams invited to the 2018 Europe Qualifier
To be held across the island of Jersey

Group A|Group B|Group C

Netherlands|

Denmark|

Italy

Germany|

Guernsey|

Jersey

Sweden|

Belgium|

Austria

Croatia|

France|

Norway

This qualifying ladder means that even the lowliest of countries is in fact only a handful of wins away from the World Cup competition - an exciting opportunity for all involved, especially the new, unknown teams at this level like Puerto Rico.

 

[Aislabie]

Puerto Rico confirm squad for ICC Americas Qualifier

With their three all-important group games against the United States, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos Islands, Puerto Rico selectors @VC the slogger and @El Loco have put together what they believe to be the strongest possible squad for the upcoming tournament. Among the squad is eighteen-year-old Felix Valenzuela, a former baseball player turned wicket-keeper.

Their full squad is as follows:

PUERTO RICO |

|

|

|

Hector Riveiro (40 years)|

Manuel Suarez (19 years)|

Luis Velez (41 years)
|Left-handed opening batsman |Left-handed opening bowler|Right handed opening batsman
|Does not bowl|Does not bowl|Does not bowl

|

|

|

Roberto Alonso (27 years)|

Alexis Alvarardo (30 years) |

Eddie Alvarardo (34 years)|

Erik Rodriguez (29 years)
Right-handed middle-order batsman|Right-handed middle-order batsman|Right-handed middle-order batsman|Right-handed middle-order batsman
Does not bowl|Right-arm finger spinner|Right arm slow bowler|Right arm slow bowler

|

|

|

Julian Nadal (27 years)|

Jaime Seda-Zayas (39 years)|

Felix Valenzuela (18 years)|

Raul Vargas (34 years)
Right-handed lower-order batsman|Right-handed lower-order batsman|Left-handed lower-order batsman|Right-handed lower-order batsman
Does not bowl|Occasional wicket-keeper|Wicket-keeper|Left arm wrist-spinner

|

|

|

John Elizondo (39 years)|

David Negron (19 years)|

Jose Kamar Prinze (33 years)|

Juan-Pablo Rigon (33 years)
Right-handed tailender|Right-handed tailender|Right-handed tailender|Right-handed tailender
Right arm medium-fast|Right arm medium-fast|Wicket-keeper|Left arm slow bowler

 

[Aislabie]

26th May 2018

It's incredible; I'm sat in departures at Luis Munoz Marin, waiting to board a flight to Toronto. I'm going there to represent my country at cricket, a sport I'd not even really heard of until about 18 months ago. It's properly bizarre.

I mean, I do actually know most of the squad already: Manuel, Roberto, Erik, Julian, Raul, Jose and JP all play with me in club cricket at

San Juan

; the other teams don't have so many people to pick from I guess, so that's why they don't have so many people in the team.

Porta del Sol

has three - Jaime and the Alvarado brothers;

Porta Atlantico

has the three oldest men in the squad: Hector, Luis and John;

Porta Caribe

has only David, our scary young quick bowler.

It's particularly weird for me because I didn't even start the season in the San Juan team: keeping was Jose's job, but when he broke his finger I stepped in. And I must have done pretty well if the selectors thought I was worth taking to Canada.

From what the Coach was saying, we should probably beat Turks & Caicos, but I can't really see us beating sides like America and the Caymans. How could we? They've both played first-class games before!​

 

[Pinch hitter]

these are domestic teams flags right?... they looks really good...