FGS Plant Tour opponents: West Indies U19s
Wednesday 1st February 2017
Reigning U19 world champions West Indies continue their preparations to defend their crown by taking on senior sides from Kent and the Caribbean in the Regional Super50 tournament.
New-ball pair of Keemo Paul and left-armer Joshua Bishop (playing on home soil in Antigua) are promising talents who can produce pace, bounce and movement but consistency with the bat has been an issue.
The youngsters have lost all three matches so far despite some impressive performances with the ball.
In the opening fixture, Paul took 4/31 as they dismissed Windwards Volcanoes for 221 but only Guyanan Bhaskar Yadram’s 50 was the highlight as the U19s fell 22 runs short of the target.
Against the Leewards in the next match, Paul claimed four more scalps before opening partner Bishop snared two late wickets to dismiss the hosts for 245, dominated by a century by Hurricanes captain Kieran Powell.
A solitary half-century from Barbadian Shamar Springer and 31 from Trinidadian Matthew Patrick could not prevent them from a 88-run reverse.
On Tuesday, the U19s suffered their biggest defeat to date as they collapsed to 58 all out to Trinidad and Tobago Red Force.
The Super50 holders’ international new-ball duo of Sheldon Cottrell (3/6) and Ravi Rampaul (1/9) combined with Roshon Primus (2/20) to devastate the top order.
Spinners Khary Pierre (2/16) and Imran Khan (1/0) finished the job before Red Force chased the meagre target in 10.2 overs for the loss of two wickets.
West Indies U19 squad: Te-Shawn Alleyne, Alick Athanaze, Joshua Bishop, Shian Brathwaite, Kirstan Kallicharan, Mikyle Louis, Obed McCoy, Matthew Patrick, Keemo Paul, Jeavor Royal, Javier Spencer, Shamar Springer, Emmanuel Stewart, Bhaskar Yadram.