MI Emirates on Wednesday announced the signing of five dynamic overseas young players -- Lorcan Tucker of Ireland, McKenny Clarke of West Indies, and England trio of Daniel Mousley, Thomas Lammonby and Craig Overton -- ahead of the inaugural ILT20 season starting from January 13.
Reinforcing on their parent franchise, five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians' philosophy of identifying, developing and nurturing young talents to unlock their true potential, MI Emirates will give the five overseas players one of the finest platforms to express and explore their capabilities under the experienced players and also compete against some of the best international players.
Tucker, the 26-year-old wicketkeeper batter, has represented Ireland, Ireland A and Ireland U19s. He shot to limelight at the Men's T20 World Cup after making 71 not out against Australia and 45 not out against West Indies.
Clarke is a 19-year-old who plays A list cricket and has represented the West Indies U19 squad. Mousley, a batting all-rounder from England who has represented his country in the U19 team, made his first-class debut in July 2019.
Lammonby represented England U19 and has played in T20 leagues around the world. Overton, the fast-bowling all-rounder, is one half of the fast-bowling twins who was selected in England's 2017-18 Ashes tour to Australia.
He represented England, England U19 and more teams in his career so far. MI Emirates had earlier signed four local UAE players in batter Mohammed Waseem, off-spin all-rounder Basil Hameed, right-arm medium fast-bowler Zahoor Khan and top-order batter Vriitya Aravind for the much-awaited inaugural ILT20 season.
The young guns of MI Emirates will play alongside experienced international players like captain Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Nicholas Pooran, Imran Tahir and Trent Boult.
Furthermore, they will train under tutelage of Shane Bond (head coach), Parthiv Patel (batting coach), R Vinay Kumar (bowling coach) and James Franklin (fielding coach). MI Emirates will play their first ILT20 game at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on January 14, 7:30 p.m. IST.
The final of the six-team ILT20 comprising 34 matches is scheduled for February 12. The league will be clashing with the start of SA20 league in South Africa and Big Bash League (BBL) running in Australia.