CRICKET West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel yesterday named the 15-member West Indies Women’s Under-19 Rising Stars squad for the ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup in South Africa in January 2023.

The squad will again be led by Guyanese batting all-rounder Ashmini Munisar, who captained the team on their tours to the USA in August and last month in India.

Lead Selector Ann Browne-John said: “The Under-19 girls T20 World Cup will be a historic event being the first of its kind in women’s international cricket. In preparation for this, the team embarked on tours of the USA and the recent Tri-Series in India against the hosts and New Zealand.

These series have identified some competent up-and-coming batters like Djenaba Joseph, Shunelle Sawh and Trishan Holder who are showing potential to transition to a higher level. We also had excellent performances from the two main spinners, captain Ashmini Munisar and Shalini Samaroo.”

She added: “We’ve held training camps over the past few months and the preparation will culminate with a final camp to be held in Antigua this month. This international exposure would no doubt be extremely beneficial, not only to this group of players, but also serve as an investment and feeder group into the senior West Indies Women’s setup.’

Captain Ashmini Munisar expressed her happiness in being selected to lead the squad: “It is every cricketer’s dream to play for her country let alone be able to captain her team. It is an immense honour that I get to do it at this historic inaugural ICC Women’s U19 World Cup. We have been playing together for the past few months and all the players are gelling and progressing quite nicely and we’re all excited to represent the West Indies.”

The ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup will feature 41 matches from January 14 to 29 in South Africa. The official warm-up matches will be from January 9 to 11.

The 16 participating teams will play in four groups in the preliminary round. West Indies have been drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Ireland, and Indonesia.

West Indies Women Under-19 Rising Stars Squad: Ashmini Munisar (captain), Asabi Callender, Jahzara Claxton, Naijanni Cumberbatch, Earnisha Fontaine, Jannillea Glasgow, Realanna Grimmond, Trishan Holder, Zaida James, Djenaba Joseph, K D Jazz Mitchell, Shalini Samaroo, Shunelle Sawh, Lena Scott, Abini St Jean

GROUPS:
Group A: Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, USA;
Group B: England, Pakistan, Rwanda, Zimbabwe;
Group C: Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand, West Indies; Group D: India, Scotland, South Africa, UAE

WEST INDIES MATCH SCHEDULE
Sunday, January 15: vs Ireland at NW University, Potchefstroom – 04:00hrs Eastern Caribbean/03:00hrs Jamaica
Tuesday, January 17: vs Indonesia at NW University, Potchefstroom – 07:45hrs Eastern Caribbean/06:45hrs Jamaica
Thursday, January 19: vs New Zealand, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom – 07:45hrs Eastern Caribbean/06:45hrs Jamaica. (CWI)