Butts calls for support for WC youths

01.FEB.08

ALTHOUGH BOASTING of five players with first class experience, manager of the TCL Group West Indies Under-19 team Clyde Butts has asked Caribbean fans to be as supportive as possible as they seek to make an impact during the ICC Youth World Cup in Malaysia next month.{{more}}

“I would say to the Caribbean public that these guys are going to give a good account of themselves,” Butts said.

“I think they are a good bunch of cricketers and I am asking that the Caribbean public support them. I think the future of West Indies cricket is in good hands with the sort of talent that we’ve got in this team.”

He was speaking in a wide-ranging interview hours before the squad left the Grantley Adams International Airport on Sunday evening via London for four warm-up matches in Bangladesh before heading to Malaysia.

Butts, a former Guyana and West Indies off-spinner and now a West Indies senior selector, was cautious about the opposition in the preliminary matches in Zone B which includes South Africa, India and Papua New Guinea.

The five players with first-class experience in the West Indies team are captain and all-rounder Shamarh Brooks from Barbados, the Guyanese pair of vice-captain Steven Jacobs and fellow all-rounder Veerasammy Permaul, along with Trinidadians Adrian Barath and middle order batsman Darren Bravo, the brother of West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.

Brooks, who bats high in the order and bowls leg-breaks, played in the previous Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2006.

SQUAD: Adrian Barath (Trinidad & Tobago), Nkrumah Bonner (Jamaica), Darren Bravo (Trinidad & Tobago), Shamarh Brooks (Barbados), Kyle Corbin (Barbados), Andre Creary (Jamaica), Jason Dawes (Jamaica), Dawnley Grant (St. Vincent, Windward Islands), Steven Jacobs (Guyana), Delorn Johnson (St. Vincent, Windward Islands), Horace Miller (Jamaica), Veerasammy Permaul (Guyana), Kieran Powell (Nevis, Leeward Islands), Devon Thomas (Antigua, Leeward Islands), Shacoya Thomas (Jamaica).

Manager: Clyde Butts (Guyana). Coach: Larry Gomes (Trinidad & Tobago). Physiotherapist: Phyllis Burnett. (CMC)