New Zealand Under-19 side announced

The New Zealand Under-19 side to play in the Provincial A tournament from January 2-14 was named following the end of the national Under-19 tournament yesterday.

The side is:

Simon Allen (Wellington)
Michael Bates (Auckland)
Neil Broom (Canterbury)
Adam Chambers (Canterbury)
Brad Chard (Northern Districts)
Daniel Flynn (Northern Districts)
Michael Goldstein (Canterbury)
Greg Hegglun (Central Districts)
James Hill (Wellington)
Brad Jones (Wellington)
Craig Smith (Otago)
Ross Taylor (Central Districts)
Brad Wilson (Northern Districts)

Kaushik Patel (coach)
Dayle Hadlee (manager)

Three players who were in last year's team were not considered for selection. They were Leighton Burtt and Richard Sherlock (injured) and Jesse Ryder (selected for the State Central District Stags).

"It was disappointing to lose three players and we have looked to replace them with youth with an eye to next year's Under-19 team," New Zealand Cricket academy director Dayle Hadlee said.

"The team was selected based on performances during the past week. We saw some excellent play on pitches suited to batting and there was good competition for places in the team."

The stand-out players of the tournament were Ross Taylor, who scored in excess of 500 runs during the tournament, James Hill, an off-spinner and left-hand batsmen who is a superb all-rounder, and Greg Hegglun, a medium-fast bowler, who took the most wickets.