KINGSTON, Jamaica – President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Whycliffe ‘Dave’ Cameron has congratulated the Under 19 team following the emphatic three wicket win over Bangladesh in the semi-final, which ended earlier this morning.
“On behalf of the WICB I would like to offer the team best wishes as they look forward to the final on Sunday against India,” says the President. “The team in spite of challenges in the earlier rounds remained focused and that has been evident in the way the team has conducted themselves,” added the President.
“This is indeed a time for us to celebrate and cheer on the young men as they try to create history,” urged the President.
Here is a report card on how this unit has been prepared under the leadership of Graeme West and his management team leading up to the team’s entry in to the World Cup. In early 2015 an 18-member squad was assembled and a camp was hosted just before the start of the NAGICO Super50 last year. The squad participated as a team in the NAGICO Super50 in 2015 in Trinidad and Tobago; there was a camp in Barbados over Easter 2015; in July there was the regional under 19 tournament in Jamaica and immediately after that tournament there was a camp in Jamaica. The team had a final camp in the region in December and then went on to a two-week camp in Bangladesh in January.
The President also pointed out that the captain, Shimron Hetmyer, for example is a regular member of the Guyana Jaguars team and has played a decent amount of cricket over the last year. “That is the kind of development we are keen on maintaining,” he noted.
In acknowledging the progress made by the team the President noted the key roles played by each player and the management team and wishes them “the best of luck in the final game. The Caribbean is fully behind the team.”
The last time the Under 19 team reached this far in a World Cup was back in 2004
where they played against Pakistan. Pakistan won by 25 runs.