The West Indies U-19 team bows into action this evening at 11:00 pm (ECT) 10:00 pm (GMT) against England.The regional side’s coach, Graeme West, is confident his charges will put up a good performance.
While the team were destroyed by Bangladesh in their first three warm-up games, they rebounded to thrash Scotland by 148 runs and play to an exciting tie with South Africa.

In the warm-up game against Scotland, the Caribbean side produced two centuries to post a massive 342, with Guyana’s Tevin Imlach scoring an even 100 (retired hurt) and captain, Shimron Hetmyer, slamming 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 find themselves in Group C with England, Fiji and Zimbabwe.
“The squad has worked incredibly hard over the last three weeks,” said West.

“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.”

According to West, the players are now more focussed on their specific roles and responsibilities.
That focus has meant the team has grown and the bond they developed from a training camp in Grenada ahead of the Christmas season is now stronger than ever.

The coach also believes that having a captain with the experience Hetmyer has, will also put the team in good stead.

“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,” said West.