Opening batter Tom Jones will lead New Zealand’s 15-member squad, featuring five domestic talents, for the 2026 ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup. The tournament, co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia, is set to take place from January 15 to February 6.
The squad will depart on January 2 and will have a training camp in Bulawayo before the warm-up matches begin on January 9.
Jones, attending his second U19 Cricket World Cup, recently scored an impressive 119 on his First Class debut for Otago last month.
Additional squad members with domestic experience include Northern Districts batter Snehith Reddy and wicketkeeper Aryan Mann, Otago fast bowler Mason Clarke, and Auckland bowling allrounder Jaskaran Sandhu. Reddy and Clarke made their List A debuts earlier this year for their respective Major Associations and also participated in the last tournament in South Africa alongside Jones. Reddy achieved the highest score of the tournament (147*) against Nepal, while Clarke impressed with figures of 4-62 against runners-up India.
Seventeen-year-old batter Hugo Bogue was selected following an excellent performance for Otago at the National Under-19 Men’s Tournament in Lincoln last week. Bogue was the tournament’s third-highest run scorer, averaging 72, with a high score of 169 against Northern Districts.
Joining him in the batting unit are Auckland’s Brandon Matzopoulous, Marco Alpe, and Jacob Cotter, who ranked as the tournament’s fourth, fifth, and sixth top run scorers, respectively.
The pace bowling unit will be strengthened by allrounders Harry Burns and Flynn Morey, each having taken a five-wicket haul during the tournament and finishing with a total of 10 wickets.
Former New Zealand player Anton Devcich will head the coaching unit, along with NZC High Performance coaches Paul Wiseman and Graeme Aldridge. Head coach Devcich expressed his satisfaction with the squad, stating, “With such a talented pool of players, there were some difficult selection calls, but we think we’ve landed the right balance.”
Devcich, who attended the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2004, emphasized that the tournament provides players with a glimpse into top-level cricket. “The Under-19 World Cup is a really exciting opportunity for the best age-group talent to showcase their skills on the world stage and experience their first taste of international cricket. For most of the players, it’ll be their first time representing New Zealand, which will be a special moment for both players and coaches,” he said.
Squad:
Tom Jones, Marco Alpe, Hugo Bogue, Harry Burns, Mason Clarke, Jacob Cotter, Aryan Mann, Brandon Matzopoulos, Flynn Morey, Snehith (‘Lucky’) Reddy, Callum Samson, Jaskaran Sandhu, Selwin Sanjay, Hunter Shore, Harry Waite.