Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced the squad for the West Indies Rising Stars Under 19s High-Performance camp being hosted at Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) in Antigua. This is the first activity to bring together the best Under 19s talent in the region and build towards the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup in 2024.
The players were selected based on performances during the Rising Stars age-group tournaments in 2022. Later in the year, CWI will host the 2023 regional age group Rising Stars presenting the opportunity for other players to compete for selection into the squad ahead of the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup.
Former Jamaican and West Indies left-arm spinner Nikita Miller is currently in Antigua and Barbuda working with the West Indies Under-19 players as they prepare for next year’s ICC Under-19 Cricket Tournament.
Miller, who has over 530 first-class wickets, has been well-received as a coach and has been approached to continue with the under-19 side. Miller was delighted with the appointment.
“By being chosen it shows that I am doing something good. The reviews have been good and it also helped that I was a part of the coaching set-up for the Jamaica Scorpions who won the Super 50 Cup.”
In the under-19 squad named, Guyana’s Golcharan Chulai and Trinidad and Tobago’s Andrew Rambaran are all left-arm spinners and he is keen to pass on Miller’s vast knowledge to them.
Having featured in two ICC World Cups in 2011 and 2015, Miller is well-experienced in the global showcase. Commenting further, he said that there was a good response from the youth.
“The reception from the youngsters has been good. I let them know that they should come with a mindset to be open to learning because there is a lot of talent in the camp.”
Miller also works with young Jamaican leg-spinner Tamarie Redwood as well as Windward Islands off-spinner Tarrique Edwards and Leeward Islands leg-spinner Micah McKenzie.
He also holds assistant coaching roles with Scorpions and Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League. He emphasized that he wants to see one of these spinners play regional cricket for a senior franchise.
“If I can see any of these spinners playing regional cricket for their senior franchise, that would be a success for me as a coach. I would love to see them applying and implementing the stuff that we worked on successfully and to me, that would mean I have done my job.”
The Rising Stars Under 19s High-Performance camp will feature targeted coaching sessions and physical preparations as well as sessions geared towards their off-field development. The camp started on 21 February and will run to 9 March. It will feature 50-over matches at the CCG on 25 February; 1, 5, and 8 March.
Rohan Nurse, has been named as CWI’s new Talent Pathway Manager. As part of his role, he will design and lead the programme for the players’ preparations leading up to the next ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka in early 2024.
The former Assistant Coach of the West Indies Rising Stars Under 19s will lead the day-to-day management of the development squad as part of his wider high-performance role managing our best young talent across the region.
Former Jamaica and West Indies spinner Nikita Miller (center) explain some training drills to Guyana’s Golcharan Chulai (left) and Tarrique Edwards from the Windward Islands during the CWI Rising Stars High-Performance Camp in Antigua on Friday.
During the camp he will be joined by Assistant Coaches Nikita Miller and Rohan Clarke; Nick Wilton, specialist wicket-keeping coach; Graeme West, CWI’s High-Performance Manager; Chris Brabazon, CWI’s Coach Development Manager; and Steve Liburd, West Indies Women’s Under 19 Head Coach.
FULL SQUAD: Jacen Agard, Jewel Andrew, Brian Barnes, Solomon Bascombe, Golcharan Chulai, Mavindra Dindyal, Joshua Dorne, Tarrique Edward, Reon Edwards, Justin Jaggessar, Deshawn James, Orlando James, Jordan Johnson, Devonie Joseph, Jaden Lorde, Micah McKenzie, Joshua Morris, Stephan Pascal, Jatario Prescod, Andrew Rambaran, Rampertab Ramnauth, Tamarie Redwood, Nathan Sealy, Isai Thorne, Devin Tyson, Yanique Watley, Steven Wedderburn, Adrian Weir, Trevaun Williams