New Zealand has named a squad brimmed with both talent and experience for the ICC Under19 Cricket World Cup 2018, which is being held in New Zealand from 13 January to 3 February.
Squad
Kaylum Boshier (Central Districts) - Captain
Finn Allen (Auckland)
Jakob Bhula (Wellington)
Max Chu (Otago)
Katene Clarke (Northern Districts)
Matthew Fisher (Northern Districts)
Luke Georgeson (Wellington)
Ben Lockrose (Otago)
Callum McLachlan (Wellington)
Felix Murray (Central Districts)
Sandeep Patel (Northern Districts)
Dale Phillips (Auckland)
Rachin Ravindra (Wellington)
Connor Sullivan (Canterbury)
Todd Watson (Central Districts)
Four players from the New Zealand U-19 squad for ICC Under19 Cricket World Cup 2016 in Bangladesh have been named in the team. Finn Allen, Dale Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, and Central District’s Felix Murray will all be featuring in their second ICC Under19 Cricket World Cup.
Kaylum Boshier will captain the side during the tournament, having impressed the selectors with the way in which he led his Central District’s side during the National U19 Tournament, which wrapped up in Lincoln today.
New Zealand U-19 Head Coach, Paul Wiseman, was excited for the players selected but was quick to mention it wasn’t the end of the road for the players that weren’t named in the 15-man squad.
“We’re confident with the side we have selected for the tournament,” said Wiseman. “It will be a great experience for the players involved, but for those not selected there will be other opportunities going forward.
“Selection or non-selection will not define these youngster’s cricketing careers.”
The New Zealand U-19 side has a training camp in Tauranga beginning on 17 December 2017, before playing Zimbabwe and Pakistan in non-official warmup matches.
The final preparation before the global youth tournament will see official warmup matches against Zimbabwe U-19 and Papua New Guinea U-19, on January 8 and 10 respectively.
Reigning champions West Indies, South Africa and Kenya will form a challenging group for the New Zealand youngsters, who will be attempting to pick up their first ICC Under19 Cricket World Cup title.
You can find the tournament schedule here.
