The inaugural edition of the ICC Women’s Under-19 Twenty20 (T20) World Cup is just around the corner and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has announced their squad of 15 which has been briefed right below. The squad in their lead-up to the upcoming, mega ICC event toured India for a 5-match T20 series each against the U-19 team of the host nation and also the West Indies.
New Zealand U-19 Squad for ICC Women’s World Cup :
Olivia Anderson, Anna Browning, Kate Chandler, Natasha Codyre, Izzy Gaze, Antonia Hamilton, Abigail Hotton, Breearne Illing, Fran Jonas, Kayley Knight, Paige Loggenberg, Emma McLeod, Georgia Plimmer, Izzy Sharp, Tash Wakelin
While Fran Jonas, Georgia Plimmer, and Izzy Gaze are capped, senior New Zealand women’s team players, a few namely; Emma McLeod, Tash Wakelin, Kate Chandler, and Izzy Sharp made the cut off the back of a strong outing over the weekend having featured in the National Women’s U-19 tournament that was held in Lincoln.
As many as 9 changes have been made in the New Zealand U-19 squad from the one that recently toured India for a series each against Under-19 sides of West Indies and India which sees Ocean Bartlett, Emily Brosnahan, Prue Catton, Olivia Gain, Abigale Gerken, Amie Hucker, Ashtuti Kumar, Nensi Patel and Makayla Templeton miss the bus.
The New Zealand U-19/ Development side that toured India managed a clean sweep win in their 2-match T20 series against West Indies U-19, but suffered a major setback in form of a clean sweep when they took on the inform India U-19 side for the 5-match T20 series.
NZC High-Performance Coach and former international, Sara McGlashan will coach the U-19 bunch and will be assisted by fellow former players in Donovan Grobbelaar and Tarun Nethula. The same trio has been retained for the World Cup who already worked together on the recently concluded NZC Women’s Development tour to India.
Coach, Sara McGlashan said, “I’d like to congratulate all the players selected. Representing your country at a World Cup is a huge honour and I know the entire squad is excited about the opportunity ahead, especially with it being the first tournament of its kind for women.
“I think we’ve got a strong squad for this World Cup with a nice mix of youth and experience. For many of the players, this will be their first time traveling overseas to play cricket, so they’ll certainly benefit from the experience of Fran, Georgia, and Izzy, the natural leaders in this group.”
The team is understood to depart for South Africa on January 4, 2023, and a captain for the side will be confirmed in due course. In their lead-up to World Cup fixtures, the bunch will feature in a couple of warm-up cup games beginning on the 9th of January.
New Zealand’s fixtures in the mega ICC tournament see the side placed in Group C play Indonesia in their opener on the 15th of January and are then scheduled to play Ireland and West Indies on the 17th and 19th of January respectively in their league stage fixtures.
(Quotes sourced from NZC media release)
