BRIDGETOWN, Jan 17: Representing West Indies means a lot to 14 players who have been selected for ICC Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka and they promised to do all to win the tournament next month.

“It is an honour to represent seven million people of West Indies and we are committed to do the region proud,” captain Leon Johnson said before team left for London on their way to Pakistan.

“We know people of West Indies are passionate about the game and we have a rich heritage to live up to. We know we have a lot to do.”

The team, under leadership of manager Jimmy Adams and coach Roddy Estwick will fly from London to Pakistan where they will play five one-day matches against Pakistan Under-19 from Jan 18 to 29.

The Under-19 World Cup takes place between Feb 5 and 19 in Colombo. West Indies were beaten by Pakistan in final of last World Cup played in Bangladesh in March 2004.

Johnson, a powerful batsman from Guyana, said players have been discussing possibility of using the tour to catapult their careers into West Indies ‘A’ team as well as securing full international colours.

“We have talking about future. We have been talking about looking to perform well to catapult ourselves into West Indies senior team. As individuals as well as a team we all believe we can form future of West Indies cricket.”

The left-handed batsman said the team was “very strong. We put in a lot of work in the camp last week and we are ready,” he said.

Squad: Leon Johnson (captain), Jason Mohammed (vice captain), Richard Ramdeen, Gajanand Singh, Andre Fletcher, Nelson Pascal, Kemar Roach, Javon Searles, Shamarh Brooks, Andre McCarthy, William Perkins, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Richi Bachan.—Agencies