Six TT players on Under-19 World Cup team

Six Trinidad and Tobago players have been selected on the West Indies Under-19 team for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh next February.

Among them is Ravi Rampaul who was named in a 14-member squad. The 19-year-old Rampaul was selected in the senior West Indies cricket team for its current tour of Zimbabwe and is a possibility for the second leg of the senior team’s African trip to South Africa that ends in early February. The West Indies Cricket Board, however, intends to make him available for the YWC 2004 that will be contested from February 13 to 29. Talented wicketkeeper/batsman Dinesh Ramdin will captain the side and Kirk Edwards will be his vice-captain. The preliminary round of matches in the YWC 2004 will be played on a round robin basis and involve 16 teams in four groups. West Indies will be in Group “D,” along with Pakistan, Papau New Guinea and Uganda.

A training camp will be held in Port-of- Spain ahead of the team’s departure on January 25. All six TT players who represented the regional Under-19 team during the Red Stripe Bowl were selected on the team for the February 15 to March 5 tournament. The local players on the team are wicketkeeper/batsman Dinesh Ramdin who captained the team during the Red Stripe Bowl regional One-Day tournament, pacer Ravi Rampaul who is with the West Indies senior team in Zimbabwe, all-rounder Jonathan Augustus, batsmen Lendl Simmons  and Tishan Maraj and spinner Rishi Bachan. The six players will tour Guyana with the Trinidad and Tobago Developmental team later this month as part of their preparation.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) have announced that Trinidadian Roland Sampath will manage the team while, Guyanese Clyde Butts will serve as coach. The team is expected to leave the Caribbean on January 25 for Sri Lanka where they will play a series of limited overs matches in order to gain some valuable experience in Asian conditions. From Sri Lanka the team move on to Bangladesh where they will compete in the World Cup. Four of the six Trinidadians called to the team were on the successful West Indies Under-15 team which won the Lombard World Cup in England in 2000. Ramdin, Maraj, Simmons and Rampaul were on the team that defeated Pakistan at Lord’s to give the West Indies the title. Rampaul will leave the tour of South Africa in the latter stages and fly over to Bangladesh to spearhead the West Indies attack in the Youth World Cup.

Squad:
Dinesh Ramdin (captain), Kirk Edwards (vice-captain), Jonathan Augustus, Rishi Bachan, Lionel Baker, Assad Fudadin, Zamal Khan, Tishan Maraj, Xavier Marshall, Mervyn Matthew, Ravi Rampaul, Liam Sebastien, Lendl Simmons, Barrington Yearwood.
Manager: Roland Sampath; Coach: Clyde Butts.