West Indies Under-19 seen here before leaving ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016. Photo: WICB
Chittagong – The under 19 team bows into action at 11:00 pm (ECT) today (January 28) against England and coach, Graeme West is confident his team will put up a good performance. In the warm up games, the team had a comprehensive 148 runs win over Scotland; and a tie with South Africa.
In the warm-up game against Scotland, the Caribbean side produced two centuries in a 342-scoreline. The players, both from Guyana, were Tevin Imlach 100 (retired hurt) and captain, Shimron Hetmyer 136.
In the tied game against South Africa, though not as impressive on the scoresheet, there were promising performances from Keacy Carty (St. Maarten) – 45, Michael Frew (Jamaica) – 33 and Imlach – 24. That match was reduced to 35 overs. Both teams scored 153 runs – WI lost nine wickets; while South Africa lost four.
The West Indies is in Group C with England, Fiji and Zimbabwe.
Coach West says “the squad has worked incredibly hard over the last three weeks.” He noted that “the three match series against Bangladesh provided the team with a challenging first assignment but a great deal of learning took place and progress could be seen in the two warm up games against Scotland and South Africa.”
Additionally, West says that the coaching staff has focused the players on their specific roles and responsibilities and continues to grow the strong bond within the group that was developed at the training camp in Grenada before Christmas.
West believes that with “captain Shemron Hetmyer having appeared in a World Cup before, he will help to inspire the team to rise to the occasion and put on a show to make every cricket fan in the Caribbean proud.” The game will be live on ESPN Caribbean.