Glamorgan players Prem Sisodiya and Roman Walker have both been selected to represent England at the ICC Under-19s World Cup.
The Glamorgan Academy products made successful debuts for England U19s in the recent Tri-Series tournament against South Africa and Namibia, with Prem scoring an assured half-century and taking four wickets, while Roman took the opening wicket of the Namibia innings.
They also played in the final game of the group stages against South Africa, where Prem bowled his ten overs straight through to claim two for 43, which helped put on the breaks in the South African innings as England later crusied to an eight-wicket win.
Roman, a seam bowler from Wrexham, played for Glamorgan first XI as a sixteen year-old earlier in the summer when he was drafted in to play Nottinghamshire in a friendly, while Prem, a leg-spinning all-rounder impressed in a number of Wales Minor Counties matches.
Harry Brook of Yorkshire has been appointed captain of the 15-man England squad, while the squad also includes four players from Middlesex – Savin Perera, Luke Hollman, Ethan Bamber and wicketkeeper Jack Davies; three from Somerset – Tom Lammonby, Fin Trenouth and another wicketkeeper, Tom Banton; and two from Worcestershire (Dillon Pennington and Adam Finch).
Warwickshire opener Liam Banks, Surrey all-rounder Will Jacks and Hampshire all-rounder Tom Scriven complete the 15.
“The players have shown with their performances in the Tri-Series in South Africa over the last couple of weeks that they can travel with plenty of optimism,” said David Graveney, a member of the Under-19s selection panel with John Abrahams and Jon Lewis, who will be head coach for the World Cup.
“We have really benefited from the flexibility permitted by selecting a number of over-age players for the Super-4s competition for the country’s outstanding Under-17s this summer, which allowed a couple of Under-18s such as Savin Perera and Fin Trenouth to put in the performances that have led to their selection in the World Cup squad.
“This is an exciting opportunity for them, and for the rest of the squad – to travel to New Zealand, and to test themselves against the outstanding players from other countries in this age group.
“It’s also worth congratulating Middlesex, Somerset, Worcestershire and Glamorgan, who contribute the majority of the squad, as a reward for the quality of their Academies.”
Lewis, the former England seamer who is now assistant coach at Sussex and currently working with the Lions in Australia, said: “I’ve been receiving regular reports of the team’s progress in South Africa from Richard Dawson and the other coaches, and I’m really looking forward to joining the squad ahead of the World Cup.”
Lewis will be assisted by Jonathan Trott as batting coach, Neil Killeen as fast bowling coach, and Chris Taylor as fielding coach – his last tournament as the ECB’s fielding lead before joining Surrey.
David Parsons, the ECB’s Performance Director, said: “Thanks are due to Richard Dawson and to James Taylor for the work they have done on what has been a successful and enjoyable Tri-Series in South Africa for the Under-19s, creating a platform for what will hopefully be an even more successful World Cup campaign.
“Chris Taylor has been a key figure in providing specialist fielding support to the players on the Men’s Pathway and the England team over the past decade and we wish him luck in his new role at Surrey.
“We will now begin the process of appointing both a new fielding lead and permanent Head Coach to the Young Lions programme and hope to have both in place after the Under 19 World Cup.”
Squad: Harry Brook (Yorkshire, captain), Ethan Bamber (Middlesex), Liam Banks (Warwickshire), Tom Banton (Somerset, wk), Jack Davies (Middlesex, wk), Adam Finch (Worcestershire), Luke Hollman (Middlesex), Will Jacks (Surrey), Tom Lammonby (Somerset), Dillon Pennington (Worcestershire), Savin Perera (Middlesex), Prem Sisodiya (Glamorgan), Tom Scriven (Hampshire), Fin Trenouth (Somerset), Roman Walker (Glamorgan).
Details
Warm-up matches: v Ireland (Jan 9, Christchurch), v Sri Lanka (Jan 11, Lincoln)
Group matches (all Queenstown): v Namibia (Jan 15), v Bangladesh (Jan 18), v Canada (Jan 20).