The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Suited up for Team Great Britain, several Bahamian players are expected to open play tonight in the World Baseball Classic Qualifier.

Great Britain takes on Israel 7pm Thursday at MCU Park in Brooklyn, New York in the final qualifier for the 2017 WBC. They will play their second game of the tournament 7pm Friday against an opponent to be determined and look to advance to Saturday’s semi-final.

Brazil, Great Britain, Israel and Pakistan will compete over the course of the four-day contest to decide the 16th and final entry in the 2017 WBC.

The winner of Sunday’s championship game will travel to Seoul, South Korea, next March and compete against host Korea, The Netherlands and Chinese Taipei in Pool B of the WBC 2017.

All the games will be streamed live and free of charge on MLB.com.

Veteran Bahamian players Antoan Richardson (Southern Maryland, Atlantic League) and Albert Cartwright (Ottawa, Can-Am League) are in their second tenure with Great Britain.

This time around they will be joined by a talented group of young Bahamian players including Ali Knowles (Garden City, Pescos League), Jasrado Chisholm (Arizona Diamondbacks, MLB), Kyle Simmons (Pittsburgh Pirates, MLB), Todd Isaacs (Cleveland Indians, MLB), Reshard Munroe (Cincinnati Reds, MLB), Byron Murray (San Francisco Giants, MLB) and Champ Stuart (New York Mets, MLB).

Great Britain will be managed by Liam Carroll as the team bids to make its second appearance at the WBC. With Richardson and Cartwright on the roster, Great Britain went 1-2 during the 2013 Qualifier played in Regensburg, Germany, where it made its debut in the WBC.

As for why the Bahamas, with so many players available to make up a team, is not playing as a country, Bahamas Baseball Federation President Teddy Sweeting addressed the issue in a previous interview with The Tribune.

He said they are working on developing a strong relationship with Major League Baseball with the view of granting the Bahamas the rights to be included in international play.

“We have been in contact with them back and forth from the beginning of 2015, trying to see whether the Bahamas could have submitted a team in the preliminary rounds, which would then afford you, if you win your pool, the opportunity to play in the actual World Baseball Classic,” Sweeting said.

“We were advised that they will do some research and get back to us. When they came back, they advised us that the International Baseball Federation does the recommendation for all of the countries that are afforded the opportunity to play in the World Baseball Classic.”

When they did, Sweeting said the federation was informed that the Bahamas would not be granted permission due to its inactivity in international baseball.

“We had set out a plan, which was to begin in 2015 when we, in collaboration with us sending a youth team to compete, didn’t compete because we were not properly registered,” Sweeting said. “So we did not attend in 2015.

“This is now 2016 and we are now in preparation to sending a under-16 youth team to Mexico to compete in the Pan Am qualifier for 2017.  That looks very promising so that we can actually start the process of qualifying for the World Baseball Classic to be considered for the preliminary rounds.”

Despite the ongoing feud with the Bahamas Baseball Association, Sweeting said the BBF is forging ahead with the view of getting its national teams prepared for the road to the World Baseball Classic.

“Our goal now is to get a team prepared to compete next month, then prepare for the under-23 AU next year in 2017 and then in 2018 prepare to send a team to represent the country at the Central American and Caribbean Games,” Sweeting said.

“If we do well in that, which is a qualifier for the Pan American Games, the following year, that would move us into 2019 and hopefully 2020 at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan where baseball is added back.”