The West Indies under 19 team’s preparations for the World Cup are well and truly underway with the side already in camp in Johannesburg since Saturday.

The camp is set to run until January six days before the January 17 start of the World Cup.

Coming out of the camp, the West Indies u19s go into official warm-up games against Canada on January 13 and Scotland on January 15.

The West Indies are in Zone B of the World Cup group stage where they will face Australia, England and debutants, Nigeria.

According to Cricket West Indies, the players have been preparing well, given the exposure that has been afforded them through trial games in the Rising Stars Under-19 tournament, with players from the Super50-winning West Indies Emergin Players team, joining the World Cup outfit, as well as a skills camp in September of 2019, and two tri-series competitions against England and Sri Lanka in the Caribbean.

According to U19 coach, Graeme West, the two tri-series against England and Sri Lanka were instructive.
“The encouraging aspect of the Tri-Series was that the team got into strong positions in five out of the six games that were played, the bowling unit functioned well and was backed up by some impressive fielding that was enhanced by the introduction of Fielding Specialist, Julien Fountain. The batsman came out of the series with a better understanding of the skills they will need to deliver in order to achieve the team targets that have been set and the camp will certainly focus heavily in these areas,” said West.

“The six games has given each player a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities they will need to fulfil for the team to succeed. Equally as important was the time the players and coaches spent together to discuss, review and reflect on the cricket that was played and identify how each player can move their game forward and give more to the team.”

WEST INDIES UNDER-19 WORLD CUP SQUAD:

Kimani Melius - Captain

Nyeem Young

Ashmead Nedd

Leonardo Julien

Kevlon Anderson

Daniel Beckford

Matthew Forde

Joshua James

Antonio Morris

Mbeki Joseph

Avinash Mahabirsingh

Kirk McKenzie

Ramon Simmonds

Matthew Patrick

Jaden Seales

TEAM MANAGEMENT

Graeme West (Head Coach)

Kenny Benjamin (Assistant Coach)

Dwain Gill (Manager)

Dinesh Mahabir (Analyst)

Khevyn Williams (Physiotherapist)

Martin Gallyer (Strength & Conditioning Coach) 

Julian Fountain (Fielding Coach)