Charlie Allison, Noah Thain, and Luc Benkenstein have all been named among a 17-player England Men Under-19s’ squad for a Quadrangular Youth ODI Series in India next month.
Allison, who this week signed a new deal to keep him at The Cloud County Ground for another year following a breakout campaign in 2023, is included in a Youth ODI group for the first time.
He hit 254 runs at an average of 36.28 in this season’s Metro Bank One Day Cup, dovetailing with Thain’s 159 at 39.75 in the same competition.
Meanwhile, Benkenstein made his return from a lengthy injury lay off to play as a specialist batter in five of the Eagles’ eight group-stage matches.
Durham batter Ben McKinney will again captain the squad, with Kent’s Jaydn Denly, Seb Morgan of Middlesex, and Durham’s Haydon Mustard the additions from the group that played Australia U19s in the five-match home Youth ODI Series last month.
The Quadrangular Series is to be played in Vijayawada, India from 4-29 November and will feature India U19s A, India U19s B and Bangladesh U19s.
The series will provide the final competitive preparation for the Young Lions ahead of the 2024 ICC Under-19 Men’s World Cup, which will be staged in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 13 January – 4 February.
England Men Under-19s’ Head Coach, Mike Yardy, said: “Touring India at any level is challenging, which why it is so valuable to be able to expose our best young players to these experiences at Under-19 level.
“We expect both the India and Bangladesh Under-19 teams to be very strong, as India showed when they beat us in the final of the most recent ICC Under-19 World Cup last year.
“So this is a huge opportunity for the 17 players who have been selected, especially with the next U19 World Cup following this tour in January 2024.”
England Under-19 Men’s squad: Ben McKinney (Durham, captain), Farhan Ahmed (Nottinghamshire), Tazeem Ali (Warwickshire), Charlie Allison (Essex), Charlie Barnard (Lancashire), Luc Benkenstein (Essex), Jack Carney (Lancashire), Jaydn Denly (Kent), Eddie Jack (Hampshire), Dom Kelly (Hampshire), Mitch Killeen (Durham), JT Langridge (Somerset), Seb Morgan (Middlesex), Haydon Mustard (Durham), Hamza Shaikh (Warwickshire), Noah Thain (Essex), Theo Wylie (Warwickshire).
