Australia Under-19 World Cup squad announced
The Cricket Australia Youth Selection Panel (YSP) today announced the final 15-player squad for the ICC Under-19 World Cup to be held in New Zealand in January 2010.
The Australia Under-19 World Cup squad is:
| Mitchell Marsh | Western Australia - Captain |
| Timothy Armstrong | New South Wales |
| Tom Beaton | Western Australia |
| Nicholas Buchanan | Queensland |
| Jackson Coleman | Victoria |
| Luke Doran | New South Wales |
| Benjamin Dougall | South Australia |
| Jason Floros | Queensland |
| Josh Hazlewood | New South Wales |
| Alexander Keath | Victoria |
| Nicolas Maddinson | New South Wales |
| Alister McDermott | Queensland |
| Kane Richardson | South Australia |
| Thomas Triffitt | Tasmania |
| Adam Zampa | New South Wales |
Commenting on the squad, YSP Chairman Greg Chappell said; "I think we've got a side that will acquit itself well in the competition. Obviously we've got a couple of players that have played state cricket this season which stands them in good stead for the competition we're up against in New Zealand.
"The YSP has been monitoring players closely and attended the recent Under-19 National Championships to get a good look at a group of players we've had our eye on.
"I think we've got a side that's pretty well balanced; we've got some good batting, some good pace bowling and a couple of good young spinners and they're all they're all pretty good fielders.
"The fact that the tournament is being played in New Zealand probably helps us a little bit in terms of providing similar wickets to that of Australia and the strong sub-continent teams maybe slightly disadvantaged by that.
"The subcontinent teams are always very strong and have some great young talent and if we were playing them in their own conditions I think it would be a very difficult challenge.
"There's no doubt that those nations will be our biggest threats; they were strong at the last Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2008 and they always have a good pool of young talent. Although the conditions may not be quite as they would like in New Zealand, I think they will provide a big challenge for our team, as we saw earlier in the year when India came out here.
"I would expect that we'll get through to the semi-finals, I'd be very disappointed if we didn't make it that far and if you get a bit of luck once you make it there, then anything can happen. I'm confident we'll acquit ourselves pretty well.
The ICC Under-19 World will be held in New Zealand from 15-30 January 2010. Australia is seeded sixth and sits in Group B with South Africa, Ireland and USA.
Australia Under-19's first match is against the USA in Queenstown on 16 January. They then play Ireland the following day before finishing the group stage against South Africa on 20 January.
