THE INAUGURAL Under 19 Women’s World Cup is just around the corner, with 16 countries set to battle it out in South Africa this month for the chance to be crowned the inaugural champion.

Ahead of the tournament, we here at Rookie Me Central will be previewing all the countries competing at the tournament, looking at their squads, their fixtures and how things might go for them.

In this preview, we take a look at England.

At senior level England has been one of the top countries and one of the contenders each tournament for a while, so there is no doubt that level of expectation heading into this Under 19 World Cup too.

With the group the English are in, finishing top two in the initial stage of the tournament should not be a challenge.

With Zimbabwe and Rwanda in their group, second is realistically as low as they should finish in the group.

However, with the strength of the English program, they should be pushing for top spot.

They should also realistically make the semi finals, but it remains to be seen whether the final is too much of a stretch for the English side. It is not out of the realm of possibility that they can make the final, but they are a number of other strong countries in the tournament so it is too early to tell who will make the final.

Unlike many of the teams at this tournament, the English team does not have any senior experience among the squad. Many of the players have made senior domestic teams (including Ryana MacDonald- Gay and Sophia Smale who were a part of the Hundred winning Oval Invicibles side), but none have made the senior English side.

They could have if they had picked Alice Capsey and Freya Davies (who are both young enough to compete at this tournament) but the pair were selected in the senior side for the senior World Cup next month.

However there is a multi code athlete in the team, with Josie Groves also a member of NSL side Saracens Mavericks.

England Squad

Ellie Anderson, Hannah Baker, Josie Groves, Liberty Heap, Niamh Holland, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Emma Marlow, Charis Pavely, Davina Perrin, Lizzie Scott, Grace Scrivens, Sophia Smale, Seren Smale, Alexa Stonehouse, Maddie Ward

England Fixture

January 15 – Zimbabwe

January 17 – Pakistan

January 19 – Rwanda