Brad Taylor to lead Under-19s at World Cup

Hampshire off-spinner to captain hopefuls in Bangladesh

Hampshire's Brad Taylor has been confirmed as England captain for the Under-19s World Cup in Bangladesh, starting in January.

The off-spinner, who has made only a handful of appearances so far at county level, will lead a 15-man squad packed with senior experience. Dan Lawrence, who scored a century in his second first-class game for Essex in April, will be vice-captain as England open their campaign against Fiji in Chittagong on January 27, with further group games against West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Big things are expected of promising Surrey allrounder Sam Curran and Taylor’s Hampshire team-mate Mason Crane, both of whom performed admirably in limited-overs cricket last summer.

The youngsters have spent the past three weeks in Sri Lanka preparing for the tournament and will practise in Dubai from January 14, including a warm-up match against South Africa on January 18, before flying in for the 11th running of the tournament in Bangladesh.

An England team including future full internationals Rob Key, Graeme Swann and Chris Schofield won the tournament in 1998, with Stephen Peters' century leading a side captained by Owais Shah to a seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in the final.

England squad for ICC Under-19 World Cup, Bangladesh, January 26 – February 14

George Bartlett (Somerset)

Jack Burnham (Durham)

Mason Crane (Hampshire)

Sam Curran (Surrey)

Ryan Davies (wk) (Somerset)

Aneurin Donald (Glamorgan)

George Garton (Sussex)

Ben Green (Somerset)

Max Holden (Middlesex)

Dan Lawrence (Essex)

Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)

Tom Moores (Nottinghamshire)

Brad Taylor (c) (Hampshire)

Callum Taylor (Essex)

Jared Warner (Yorkshire)