FOUR Trinidad and Tobago cricketers have been selected to a 15-member West Indies Women’s Under-19 Rising Stars team for the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup, which bowls off in South Africa from January 14-29.
Shalini Samaroo, who captained the Red Force women’s team at the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Women’s U19 Rising Stars T20 Championship earlier this year, was selected alongside national team regulars Shunelle Sawh, Djenaba Joseph and KD Jazz Mitchell.
The team, announced by the CWI selection panel on Thursday, is captained by Guyanese batting all-rounder Ashmini Munisar. Munisar led the team on their tours to the US in August and last month in India.
In a CWI statement, lead selector Ann Browne-John said the tournament serves as a historic one.
“In preparation for this the team embarked on tours of the USA and the recent tri-series in India against the hosts and New Zealand.
“These series have identified some competent up-and-coming batters like Djenaba Joseph, Shunelle Sawh and Trishan Holder who are showing potential to transition to a higher level.
“We also had excellent performances from the two main spinners, captain Ashmini Munisar and Shalini Samaroo.”
Browne-John added that the squad held training camps over the past few months and their preparations culminate with a final camp to be held in Antigua this month.
She said the international exposure would be extremely beneficial, not only to this group of players, but also serve as an investment and feeder group into the senior West Indies women set-up.
Munisar expressed her happiness at being selected to lead the squad.
“It is every cricketer’s dream to play for their country, let alone be able to captain their team, it is an immense honour that I get to do it at this historic inaugural ICC Women’s U19 World Cup.
“We have been playing together for the past few months and all the players are gelling and progressing quite nicely and we’re all excited to represent the West Indies.”
The ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup will feature 41 matches. The official warm-up matches bowl off from January 9-11.
The 16 participating teams will play in four groups in the preliminary round. West Indies have been drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Ireland, and Indonesia.
WEST INDIES WOMEN UNDER 19s RISING STARS SQUAD – Ashmini Munisar (captain), Asabi Callendar, Jahzara Claxton, Naijanni Cumberbatch, Earnisha Fontaine, Jannillea Glasgow, Realanna Grimmond, Trishan Holder, Zaida James, Djenaba Joseph, K D Jazz Mitchell, Shalini Samaroo, Shunelle Sawh, Lena Scott, Abini St Jean
GROUPS
Group A: Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, USA
Group B: England, Pakistan, Rwanda, Zimbabwe
Group C: Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand, West Indies
Group D: India, Scotland, South Africa, UAE
WEST INDIES MATCH SCHEDULE
January 15 – WI vs Ireland
January 17 – WI vs Indonesia
January 19 – WI vs New Zealand
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