West Indies U-19 squad for England tour named

AN 18-MEMBER West Indies Rising Stars Under-19 cricket squad has been named for a two-week tour of England.

The squad, which left the Caribbean last weekend, will be led by Ackeem Auguste. His deputy is Giovonte Depeiza. Auguste is a left-handed top-order batsman, while Depeiza is a right-handed middle-order batsman and leftarm spinner.

The full squad is Ackeem Auguste, Giovonte Depeiza, Onaje Amory, Anderson Amurdan, Justin Beckford, Teddy Bishop, Carlon Bowen-Tuckett, McKenny Clarke, Rivaldo Clarke, Nathan Edward, Andel Gordon, Sion Hackett, Justin Jagessar, Johann Layne, Anderson Mahase, Matthew Nandu, Isai Thorne and Vasant Singh.

Rohan Nurse will lead the coaching staff as the acting head coach, filling in for Floyd Reifer who is unavailable because he had a prior contractual arrangement with the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

Nurse’s assistants are Sir Curtly Ambrose and Steve Liburd. The team’s manager is Junie Mitchum, team analyst, Avenesh Seetram, with the strength and conditioning coach being Alex Forde and physiotherapist, Lyndon Knights.

The tour will feature six Youth One-Day Internationals at The County Ground, Beckenham and The Polo Farm, Canterbury from Saturday, September 4 to Friday, September 17.

The West Indies Rising Stars Under-19 squad was selected following an eight-match trials series with 60 players in Antigua. From there the squad was reduced to 26, who were then involved in more intensive targeted high-performance coaching and simulation sessions.

The ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup will be hosted in the Caribbean by Cricket West Indies from January 4 to February 3, 2022.

The West Indies won the 2016 edition held in Bangladesh.