CHIT­TAGONG–West In­dies will aim to put a mixed build-up be­hind them when they clash with Eng­land in their open­ing game of the ICC Un­der-19 World Cup here to­day (Thurs­day, 11 pm East­ern Caribbean time).

The Caribbean side were white­washed by Bangladesh in a three-match se­ries ear­li­er this month be­fore bounc­ing back with vic­to­ry over Scot­land and a tie with South Africa in their two of­fi­cial warm-up games.

How­ev­er, their volatile form will be put to the test against an Eng­land side which made an em­phat­ic start to their cam­paign with a 299-run win over min­nows Fi­ji on Wednes­day.Head coach Graeme West said though West In­dies had start­ed the tour shak­i­ly, they had grown and were now com­ing in­to their own.

"The squad has worked in­cred­i­bly hard over the last three weeks," West said.

"The three match se­ries against Bangladesh pro­vid­ed the team with a chal­leng­ing first as­sign­ment but a great deal of learn­ing took place and progress could be seen in the two warm up games against Scot­land and South Africa."

West In­dies nev­er showed up against Bangladesh. They lost their open­er by eight wick­ets, the sec­ond game by 171 runs and the third by 16 runs.How­ev­er, they crushed the Scots by 148 runs be­fore hold­ing their nerve in de­fend­ing 153 last Sun­day against the young Pro­teas.

De­spite the mixed form, there have been en­cour­ag­ing per­for­mances. Cap­tain Shim­ron Het­my­er and open­er Tevin Im­lach stroked hun­dreds against Scot­land, bats­man Gidron Pope gath­ered a half-cen­tu­ry against Bangladesh and al­so got starts in the oth­er games while Kea­cy Car­ty made 42 and 45 in three trips to the crease.

Much will de­pend on Het­my­er, how­ev­er. Of the bat­ting group, he is the most ex­pe­ri­enced with six first class ap­pear­ances un­der his belt and hav­ing al­ready played in a Youth World Cup.West said the flu­ent left-han­der would bring a lot of in­spi­ra­tion to his side.

"Cap­tain Shem­ron Het­my­er hav­ing ap­peared in a World Cup be­fore, he will help to in­spire the team to rise to the oc­ca­sion and put on a show to make every crick­et fan in the Caribbean proud."

West In­dies have been in­stalled in Group C along­side Fi­ji who they play Sun­day and Zim­bab­we who they come up against in their fi­nal pre­lim­i­nary round game next Tues­day.

SQUAD

Shim­ron Het­my­er (cap­tain), Keemo Paul (vice-cap­tain), Kacey Car­ty, Shahid Crooks, Michael Frew, Jyd Goolie, Tevin Im­lach, Ryan John, Alzarri Joseph, Kirstan Kallicha­ran, Obed Mc­Coy, Gidron Pope, Odean Smith, Shamar Springer, Em­manuel Stew­art.