Thomas Previews U19 World Cup
The Men’s Under 19 World Cup gets underway this week, and England will be looking to lift the trophy for the first time since 1998.
The Young Lions will be captained by Somerset’s Thomas Rew, who can’t wait for the competition to get underway.
“It’s an absolute privilege to be Captain of this team,” he said when we spoke to him earlier today. “I got to lead the side in the summer and I’m incredibly proud every time I walk out onto the field with the Three Lions on my chest. To be able to lead this team is an absolute honour. I was super excited when I got the call just before Christmas to tell me the news. I was over the moon to find out that I was going to lead the team at a World Cup.”
Does the Captain believe that England can challenge for the trophy?
“I think our side is good enough to compete with the best and to go all the way,” he said. “It’s important that we don’t look too far ahead and take every game as it comes. I think we’ve got all aspects covered in the squad and hopefully we can be successful.
“We won the warmup games, so everyone’s feeling pretty good and everyone’s had a good bat and a good bowl. We want to start well and go on to win the group to give ourselves a good draw in the Super 6s. Coming back on that flight with the World Cup trophy is the only aim.”
What’s the mood in the camp like today?
“The overriding emotion in the group at the moment is pure excitement. Not everyone gets to play in a World Cup, so to be able to go out there and sing the national anthem is really exciting and we can’t wait to get going.
“Training has gone really well, and everyone has been working hard. We’ve had two warm up games and it’s key for us to adapt to these wickets as quickly as possible. The surfaces are good, and we just need to make sure that we adapt well and play the scenario.
“I love 50-over cricket. You’ve got the time to build an innings, and we talk in the dressing room about making sure that we’re playing strong shots. Our batters are capable of putting bowlers under pressure and getting big scores which is what you need to do in a World Cup if you want to go all the way.”
