THE WEST Indies Under-19s head coach, Graeme West, says his team’s participation in the NAGICO Super50 tournament is part of a long-term build-up to the 2016 ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh.
The Windies Under-19s have been drawn in Group B alongside the Jamaica Franchise, the Leeward Islands Hurricanes and hosts Trinidad & Tobago Red Force.
This is the first time that a West Indies U-19 team will be playing in this tournament, which has invited teams such as Ireland, Canada and United States.
West, who is also the West Indies High Performance Centre head coach, says the tournament will be used to assess the skill level of the players who were picked based on recent competitions for Under-17s and Under-19s.
“This tournament will be the start point for our countdown to the next ICC Under-19 World Cup,†said West.
“We want to assess the players and identify their strengths, so that we can start to build the nucleus of the side that we want to send to the World Cup next year. To be successful, we will need to develop a core group of players that have played at the highest level that we can make available to them at this stage.â€
Windies Under-19s team includes skipper Ramaal Lewis from Jamaica, Roland Cato, the Windwards Under-19 captain, and Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who has played for the senior Guyana team and who scored a century against India in the fifth-place match at the 2014 edition of the U-19 Cricket World Cup.
“We have added a few players that are a bit over the age limit, but have played at the previous World Cup to give the side a bit more of a competitive edge,†West explained.
“Given the quality of the opposition that we were due to face, we felt we needed a bit more depth in the side and that’s why these three players have been added.â€
Squad:
Kacey Carty, Roland Cato, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Jaeel Clarke, Michael Frew, Shimron Hetmyer, Amir Jangoo, Alzarri Joseph, Nicholas Kirton, Ramaal Lewis, Kemo Paul, Akeel Seetal, Odean Smith, Shamar Springer.
