Sports News | U-19 WC: South Africa Games Crucial to Build the Team Energy, Says Floyd Reifer

St John's [Antigua], December 21 (ANI): West Indies under-19 head coach Floyd Reifer feels upcoming games against South Africa will provide "crucial" match practice to the side ahead of the World Cup.

West Indies will host the 14th edition of the ICC Under 19 men's World Cup for the first time ever. The tournament will see 16 teams travelling to the Caribbean to compete in 48 matches from January 14 to February 5 across four host countries.

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Ahead of the tournament, the Windies will play four 50-over matches in St Vincent and the Grenadines from December 26 to January 3 at Arnos Vale Stadium and Cumberland Playing Field.

"It is for us to also make sure we get the team going well together and have synergy, so the players fully understand each other. This is very crucial for us as we look to build the team energy and the team culture," said Floyd Reifer in Cricket West Indies (CWI) release.

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"I can't stress enough how vital these matches are, and we will be taking them very seriously. We want to thank the Government and Cricket Association of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for working with our operations and medical teams over the past week to put things in place for us to get some much-needed playing time in the middle and preparations," he added.

The West Indies and South African teams will arrive in St Vincent later today. The teams are using the series as preparation for the ICC Men's Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

"It's great for us to have these matches as part of the build-up to the World Cup. We are really looking forward to this series against South Africa, as we are at the stage where it is important for the squad to play together, to see players in various roles, see how they respond to situations and how well they execute the plans we put in place," said Reifer.

The ICC Men's Under-19 Cricket World Cup will feature 16 teams in 48 matches. They are defending champions Bangladesh, England, Canada and the United Arab Emirates form Group A, with debutants Uganda placed in Group B alongside India, South Africa and Ireland. Group C comprises Pakistan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea and Group D sees host West Indies, Australia and Sri Lanka and Scotland. (ANI)

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