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St John’s, Antigua – The 46th edition of the West Indies Cricket Board’s premier regional youth tournament will bowl off in St Kitts on July 19 with three matches.
The WICB Regional Under 19 Tournament, will open with defending 3 Day champions Barbados challenging Guyana at Verchilds while hosts Leeward Islands will do battle against their arch-rivals Windward Islands at Conaree. The third match will see Jamaica matching skills with Trinidad and Tobago at EGSC Molyneaux.
The three day format will be played from July 12 to August 7 with five rounds of matches.
The six traditional regional teams (Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago and Windward Islands) will be joined by the ICC Americas Under 20 team for the 50 Over leg which commences on August 10th and runs through to August 20th .
The full tournament will consist of 36 matches (15 x 3 Day matches and 21 x 50 Over matches) played over 12 rounds.
The regional youth tournament dates back to 1968 when it was contested under the British American Tobacco Series. It has been the main scouting ground for the region’s finest talent who going on to grace the international stage in full West Indies senior colours. Most of the current West Indies players found their footing in the Regional Under 19 Tournament before going on to represent the West Indies in Test, One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket.
Guyana has been dominant in the three day format, winning the title on 13 occasions while Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago have won 9 each. Jamaica is next with 8 titles. Leewards have won three times and the now disbanded Combined Islands held it twice and Windwards once.
The 50 Over tournament is in its 16th year, having been inaugurated in 1998. Trinidad and Tobago has won this title on 5 occasions (2002, 2003, 2005, 2008 & 2010), Jamaica 4 (1998, 1999, 2007 & 2009) and Barbados have done so thrice (2001, 2004 & 2011). Defending 50 over champions Windwards have won once (2012) while Guyana and Leewards have not yet held this title.
The WICB will be providing full coverage of the entire tournament on its website and social media platforms. Live score updates from all matches will be provided on facebook (www.facebook.com/windiescricket) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/windiesregional) while one match each round will be video streamed live on www.windiescricket.com The website will also carry full scorecards and match reports at the end of each day’s play.