U19 World Cup

The squad will be captained by left-handed middle-order batsman Ackeem Auguste. Allrounder Giovonte Depeiza will be his deputy.

They were also the captain and vice-captain during the young Windies six-match Youth One-Day International series against England in September.

“It is a special honour to be named to captain the West Indies team. To represent the people of our region is a special privilege and it’s a really exciting time for me and my teammates as we know this is a great opportunity on the international stage,” said Auguste.

The West Indies U19s have been drawn in Group D alongside Australia, Scotland and Sri Lanka for the 16-team tournament.

“Overall, the selectors are very pleased with what we have been seeing from these players and we expect some very exciting cricket in the World Cup,” said Robert Haynes, lead selector.

Haynes alluded to the balance of the squad as one of its strong points.

“The batting is solid. The bowling is very good. This is a balanced squad and the players are very excited. It is now for these youngsters to go out and display what they learned in the camps that were organized for their benefit,” said Haynes.

Head Coach Floyd Reifer was pleased with the development the players showed in the last camp in Antigua.

“Coming out of the last camp in Antigua we have seen a lot of improvement and development in the players and we came up with a very good squad. I’m confident that we have a well-balanced team going into the World Cup and we have the team to do very well in the tournament,” said Reifer.

The young Windies play their first match of the tournament on January 14^th against Australia.

The full squad is as follows: Ackeem Auguste (Captain), Giovonte Depeiza (Vice-Captain), Onaje Amory, Teddy Bishop, Carlon Bowen-Tuckett, Jaden Carmichael, McKenny Clarke, Rivaldo Clarke, Jordan Johnson, Johann Layne, Anderson Mahase, Matthew Nandu, Shaqkere Parris, Shiva Sankar and Isai Thorne.

Reserves

Anderson Amurdan, Nathan Edward, Andel Gordon, Vasant Singh and Kevin Wickham.

Seales was one of the U19 World Cup’s best pacers with 10 wickets on the way to helping the West Indies to a fifth-place finish.

Now Seales wants to see what he can achieve in first-class cricket and from their break into the West Indies Test team.

“I always told my father I want to play Test cricket. I want to open the bowling in Test cricket,” said Seales.

The pacer, who grabbed 4-49 to help the young West Indies to a three-wicket win over pre-tournament favourites Australia in its opener, understands that there is work to be done to make the transition, but is more than willing to put in the hard yards.

“For me right now it is about staying fit, training harder, getting myself ready to play four-day cricket, and hopefully get into West Indies A team or the senior team soon enough to play for the senior team in Test cricket,” he said.

Seales went wicketless against England but his 0-21 from 10 overs was impressive nonetheless. His 4-19 against Nigeria in the final game of the first round meant the West Indies were unbeaten and looked dangerous ahead of a quarterfinal encounter against New Zealand.

He also went wicketless against New Zealand but his figures of 0-21 were again a testament to his fine bowling.

Seales’ exploits did not go unnoticed by the ICC, who picked him in the team of the tournament as one of two West Indians, the other being allrounder Nyeem Young.

“For me personally, it was a good performance. Coming off the tri-series (against Sri Lanka and England) I did not have the best performance,” he said.

“I wanted to do better for the team so I trained very hard when I came back home and in the World Cup itself [in] the training sessions I worked hard.”