Equipped Windies looking to ‘go all the way’ at upcoming Men’s U19 World Cup 

van Lange: ‘To win, you have to beat everyone.’

On the back of series wins over Sri Lanka and England, the West Indies, on Tuesday evening, jetted off for the 2026 ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup full of confidence. Captain Joshua Dorne and his deputy, Jonathan van Lange, have already settled on their objectives for the competition, which will be co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia. 

While Dorne, one of two returnees to the Windies side, is excited to once again experience “the exposure of playing in an ICC tournament and playing against different teams,” he has his sights set on penning a redemption arc.

Following four single-digit scores at 11.8 in the 2024 campaign, the Barbadian completed a stellar comeback in 2025, scoring 617 runs across 14 Youth Internationals at 47.46. 

“Well, last time around it was pretty rough, so I learnt from that experience and came back,” he said, before determining, “[I’m] coming back stronger this time, for sure.” 

The Caribbean side earned 9 wins in the home tours, first defeating Sri Lanka 4-3 and then England 5-2, and Dorne is satisfied with the preparations. “I'm feeling really confident in the team,” he began. “The experience against England and also against Sri Lanka, defeating those two teams, gives us a big confidence boost going into the World Cup.”

The West Indies have been further boosted by the addition of Antigua’s Jewel Andrew, who did not feature in either series. In contrast to Dorne, Jewel shone in South Africa in 2024, turning heads with scintillating knocks of 130 and 64* early in the campaign. He has since earned senior debuts, featuring in 5 T20Is and 3 ODIs. 

Dorne is happy to have another leader in his unit. “Obviously, with the addition of Jewel to the team, it means a lot because he has that international exposure, so it means he can give information at any time if needed and just offer that experience that he possesses,” he said. 

Now, after a Super Sixes exit last time around, vice-captain van Lange believes they can go one step further. “I think we can go all the way,” the Guyanese said nonchalantly. “We have a good bunch of men. It has been shown in the two previous series the quality of players that we have.”

The big-hitting all-rounder, who often came to Windies’ rescue in the recent home tours, either with bat or ball, has no personal goals heading into the tournament. “[I will do] whatever the team needs me to do at [any] time—[whatever is needed] to help the team win. To win, you have to beat everyone. So I ain't looking forward to [playing any team] in particular.”