The ECB have announced their 15-man squad for the ICC Under-19 World Cup, which takes place in New Zealand from January 16-30, 2010. The bi-annual tournament involves 16 teams with England facing Afghanistan, Hong Kong and India in the group stages.

The squad will be coached by Sussex's cricket manager, Mark Robinson, who will select the captain in the lead-up to the tournament, after spending time with the squad over the four weeks leading up to Christmas.

The players will undergo an intense period of training in the run-up to the tournament, including fitness and skill work at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough, fielding and team building in Cardiff, leadership challenges at Catterick Garrison in Yorkshire, and fitness and fielding at Manchester United's training ground at Carrington.

The squad will leave on January 1 for Wellington, New Zealand, where they will spend a week acclimatising before reporting to Christchurch for the start of the World Cup. England will play two warm-up matches against Papua New Guinea U19 on January 11 and New Zealand U19 on January 12.

England's first match in the group stages will be against Hong Kong on January 16, followed by Afghanistan on January 18 and India, the current World Cup holders, on January 20. The top two teams in each group will progress to the quarter-finals.

Elite Player Development Manager John Abrahams said: "The U19 World Cup is a fantastic opportunity for the squad to test themselves against some of the most talented young cricketers in the world and we will be working hard over the next six weeks to ensure that we are able to produce our best cricket in New Zealand."

England's best result at the Under-19 World Cup was in 1998 when they defeated New Zealand to win the tournament.

Squad Michael Bates (Hampshire), Paul Best (Warwickshire), Danny Briggs (Hampshire), Nathan Buck (Leicestershire), Jos Buttler (Somerset), Chris Dent (Gloucestershire), Matthew Dunn (Surrey), Calum Haggett (Somerset), Ateeq Javid (Warwickshire), Jack Manuel (Worcestershire), David Payne (Gloucestershire), Azeem Rafiq (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Vince (Hampshire).