Ball to captain England at U-19 World Cup

England have named a 15-man squad, to be captained by Kent allrounder Adam Ball, for next month's ICC U-19 World Cup in Australia. Essex's wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes will be vice-captain, with the likes of Daniel Bell-Drummond, Aneesh Kapil, Reece Topley and Somerset's Overton brothers also included.

England's first match in the tournament is against the hosts, on August 11, in Group A, which also contains Ireland and Nepal. Ten players in the squad took part in a quadrangular tournament in Australia earlier in the year - also featuring India and New Zealand - where England finished third.

"The squad we have put together contains strength in depth and some exciting young talent which we look forward to seeing perform on the world stage in Australia," England Development Progamme (EDP) head selector David Graveney said. "It was difficult to reduce the squad from our original 30 names to just 15, but we feel we have a good mix of batting and bowling with strong names in reserve in case of any injuries."

Tim Boon, the EDP head coach, said: "The squad contains a great blend of players with first-class experience and those with less experience. We've got some great games to look forward to against top class opposition at such a prestigious tournament. We're looking to giving them an opportunity to impress at this level and hope will we compete strongly throughout the competition."