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St. John's (Antigua), July 13 : Head coach
Roddy Estwick says he has high hopes for the West Indies side at the
next month's International Cricket Council's Under-19 World Cup in
Australia.
Pointing to their preparations and the fact that they
had been together for a while, Estwick said he expected the side to
perform well in what would be a "tough tour of duty", reports Caribbean
Media Corporation (CMC).
"We have a very good group of young men
and I'm very confident that they will do well in the tournament. The
team has been together for more than a year now and they work well
together," Estwick said.
"We did well on the tour of Dubai last
year (against Australia), battled hard in India and were dominant when
we played in the United States. We had a very good camp in Barbados over
Easter and everyone has come back refreshed and ready for the big
assignment in Australia."
The West Indies are set to leave
Barbados Tuesday for a camp in Australia which will help to fine-tune
preparations for the tournament that runs August 12-26 across the cities
of Townsville, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
The
Caribbean side will play in Group C alongside defending champions
India, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea in the 16-team biennial event.
Estwick said the early arrival in Australia will help the team acclimatise to conditions there.
The
side will be led by Test opener Kraigg Brathwaite and included flashy
Jamaican left-hander John Campbell, who will serve as vice-captain.
Both
openers will be expected to fire West Indies to sound starts, with a
strong middle order in left-handers Anthony Alleyne and Akeal Hosein and
stylish right-hander Kavem Hodge, to come.
The bowling attack
will revolve around three specialist quick bowlers - Marquino Mind ley,
left-armer Jerome Jones, and Ronsford Beaton, a six-footer who has
already played eight first class games for Guyana.
Fast bowling
all-rounders - the hard-hitting Kyle Mayers and the hardworking Justin
Greaves - have also been included in the team.
© IANS
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