Rampaul to travel to Bangladesh directly from South Africa tour

West Indies fast bowler Ravi Rampaul will travel directly from his team's tour of South Africa to the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh.

The 19-year-old made his international debut in November 2003 and has now played eight One Day Internationals for the West Indies during the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Rampaul will meet up with his West Indies U/19 colleagues en route to Bangladesh on 9 February. This will be the Trinidad-born bowler's second ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup - he played three matches in New Zealand in 2002, taking two wickets.

Rampaul will not be the only player with full international experience at the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup. Three of the Bangladesh squad - Nafis Iqbal, Talha Jubair and Enamul Haque - have also represented their national team.

Previous ICC U/19 tournaments have launched the careers of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sanath Jayasuriya, Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag and Graeme Smith.

The ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup Bangladesh 2004 will take place from 15 February to 5 March at eight venues throughout the country. The Opening Ceremony will be in Dhaka on 10 February.

Nepal was the first participating team to arrive in Bangladesh on 31 January. It has just completed a three-match series of practice matches against the Bangladesh U/19s which were all won by the home side.

The other 14 participating teams will arrive in Dhaka from 8-9 February.

Full list of team arrival dates:

8 Feb

Canada, England

9 Feb

Australia, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda, West Indies, Zimbabwe

ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup Media Contacts:

Jon Long
ICC Event Media Manager
In Bangladesh: 01750 17668
International: +44 (0) 7946 545 090
Email: jon.long@icc-cricket.com

Zaidan Rabbi
BCB Media Committee Secretary
Mobile: 0171 836660