ICC U-19 World Cup: West Indies look to end Bangladesh dream run

West Indies Under-19s coach Graeme West is hoping his players can use their knowledge of Bangladesh Under-19s to their advantage, when the two teams face-off in the semifinal of the Under-19 World Cup in Dhaka on Thursday.

West says his side are fully aware of the strength of their opposition after playing a three-match warm-up series against them and losing.

"We are very lucky we played them three times so we know their side, we know their strength. Their top six are all very well organised and their spin attack is very good and very skillful in the conditions here in Bangladesh," said West.

"They also have two good seam bowlers but they are not a non-quantity to us. We are very familiar with them. We know what to look out for."

Half-centuries from Tevin Imlach and Shimron Hetmyer topped a hundred from Umair Masood to guide the Windies Under-19s past Pakistan Under-19s in quarterfinal encounter.
course for victory.

West says their clash against Bangladesh will serve to measure the progress of the Caribbean side in the tournament thus far. He is hoping that huge hometown support for Bangladesh would work in favour of the West Indies.

"There is a huge amount of support for Bangladesh here, it's the first time they have reached the semifinals of an ICC competition. So we are going to hope that gets them a little bit. Obviously they are going to be huge expectations," said West.

"They are a good side we would certainly be the underdogs but it will be a great test in terms of the progress we have made since we arrived in Bangladesh in January."