CRICKET West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel on Friday officially announced a 15-member team and three reserves to participate in an 11-day camp in St. Kitts and Nevis.
The camp, which will run from December 10-20, is the last round of preparation before they depart the region on December 28. The Windies Under-19 team are the defending champions for the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup New Zealand 2018. The tournament runs from January 13 to February 3.
Head Coach Graeme West expressed excitement at the team chosen.
“It’s an exciting time for these guys now that they’ve discovered they’re going to be going to a World Cup. It’s a bit of a younger side than the last one we took to Bangladesh. However, we have a very established, experienced batting group, with the likes of KirstanKallicharan and Emmanuel Stewart who went to the last World Cup,” he said.
West thinks there will be “a lot more attention on the West Indies in this tournament, after the last tournament and title in Bangladesh. In the group stage, we’re in a very tough group as the #1 seeds, so we’re going to have to hit the ground running, just to succeed in the group stage.”
The team is scheduled to depart the region on December 28. A one-week camp will be held in New Zealand prior to the start of the World Cup.
The squad reads: Emmanuel Stewart — Captain (Windward Islands – Grenada), KirstanKallicharan — Vice Captain (Trinidad & Tobago), Ronaldo Alimohammed (Guyana), AlickAthanaze (Windward Islands – Dominica), Cephas Cooper (Trinidad & Tobago), JarionHoyte (Barbados), Kimani Melius (Windward Islands – Saint Lucia), Ashmead Nedd — (Guyana), Kian Pemberton — (Leeward Islands – Saint Kitts & Nevis), Raymond Perez (Guyana), Joshua Persaud (Guyana), Jeavor Royal (Jamaica), Keagan Simmons (Trinidad & Tobago), BhaskarYadram (Guyana) and Nyeem Young (Barbados)
The Reserves are Brad Barnes (Jamaica), Joshua Bishop (Barbados) and Javier Spencer (Leeward Islands – Antigua & Barbuda).
The management team includes Graeme West (Head Coach), Dwain Gill (Team Operations Manager), Corey Collymore (Assistant Coach), Khevyn Williams (Physiotherapist), Zephyrinus Nicholas (Strength & Conditioning Coach) and Dinesh Mahabir (Analyst).