Junior ashes comes to SW

Cricket in the South West is not done for the season just yet.

While the beer in the World Cup cricket trophy is still being gleefully swilled by one winning group, another is getting ready for the next campaign in 2016.

Later this month the Australian under-19s will strut their stuff right here in the South West.

Leaving the best for last - after the Bunbury and Districts Cricket Association grand finals and successful WA Masters Country Cricket Carnival - two one-day international matches between England and Australia will be played at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School on April 13 and 15.

The series is being used as a warm-up to the 2016 ICC Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh.

Coached by former international cricketer and head coach of the Australian Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, Englishman Graeme Hick, and assisted by ex-England bowling coach Troy Cooley (who plotted Australia's 2005 Ashes downfall), the under-19s will give South West punters a sneak peek at the country's cricketing future.

"After inspecting local facilities, a team from the WACA decided the best facilitated venue is the new, spacious pavilion at the Grammar School and so the two international one-dayers scheduled for the South West will be played there," said South West region cricket officer Orazio Santalucia.

Hick, Cooley and Cricket Australia's national talent manager, Greg Chappell, will also conduct coaching talks between matches.

The England versus Australia series starts with a two-day warm-up and a four-day fixture at the WACA from April 6, followed by the two one-dayers in Bunbury and three at Murdoch University.

_Australian Under-19s: Matt Short (Vic), Jaron Morgan (WA), Jake Carder (WA), Sam Harper (Vic), Patrick Page (SA), Jake Doran (NSW), Sam Heazlett (Qld), Tom Healy (Qld), Jonte Pattison (NSW/ACT) (camp only), Riley Ayre (ACT/NSW), Jhye Richardson (WA), Henry Thornton (NSW), Guy Walker (Victoria), David Grant (SA), Sam Rowley (Qld), Sam Grimwade (Vic). _