This follows the Tri-Series Competition which ended in South Africa yesterday. In the final of that England batted first. Luke batted 9 and went in when his team were struggling on 182 for 7 after 34 overs. Luke hit 34 off 50 balls and helped England to reach 259 all out in the last of their allotted 50 overs. He shared an 8th wicket partnership of 74. Luke was eventually caught with 8 balls remaining. In a thrilling game, SA passed England’s score with just 2 balls to spare. Luke bowled 10 overs taking 1 for 41. Ethan did not play in the Final.

Here are some extracts from the ECB Press release –

"The players have shown with their performances in the Tri-Series in South Africa over the last couple of weeks that they can travel with plenty of optimism,” said David Graveney, a member of the Under-19s selection panel with John Abrahams and Jon Lewis, who will be head coach for the World Cup."
“This is an exciting opportunity for them, and for the rest of the squad – to travel to New Zealand, and to test themselves against the outstanding players from other countries in this age group."
"Lewis will be assisted by Jonathan Trott as batting coach, Neil Killeen as fast bowling coach, and Chris Taylor as fielding coach – his last tournament as the ECB’s fielding lead before joining Surrey."
"David Parsons, the ECB’s Performance Director, said: “Thanks are due to Richard Dawson and to James Taylor for the work they have done on what has been a successful and enjoyable Tri-Series in South Africa for the Under-19s, creating a platform for what will hopefully be an even more successful World Cup campaign."

Tour itinerary

Warm-up matches

9 January - Ireland (Christchurch)
11 January - Sri Lanka (Lincoln)

World Cup group matches

15 January - Namibia (Queenstown)
18 January - Bangladesh (Queenstown)
20 January - Canada (Queenstown)