TAMWORTH Cricket Club batting hero Jack Manuel has been selected in England's squad for the ICC Under-19 World Cup, which takes place in New Zealand from January 15-30.

Manuel – who plays club cricket for Tamworth in the Birmingham League but is also with Worcestershire – is the only new name from the squad that toured Bangladesh this winter.

He is in a 15-man squad which 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.

They will also face fielding and team building in Cardiff, leadership challenges at the army base at Catterick, Yorkshire, and fitness and fielding at Manchester United's training ground at Carrington.

The squad will leave for Wellington on January 1 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 on January 11 and New Zealand under-19s 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 current under-19 World Cup holders India on January 20.

The top two teams in each group will progress to the quarter-finals.