The selection of Sebastian Morgan for the England Young Lions Under-19 Cricket World Cup squad has put the proverbial icing on the cake of arguably the finest season Winchester College has enjoyed in recent times.

The 16-year old Wykehamist all-rounder is the second youngest member of the England squad that flies to South Africa on January 5 to compete in the 16-nation tournament.

He will be joined on the Johannesburg bound flight by Winchester-based Hampshire Academy all-rounder Dom Kelly and Canford's Eddie Jack writes Mike Vimpany.

The trio all played in England's pre-CWC 50-over games against Bangladesh and India and will all look to shine in the warm-up matches against Afghanistan and Pakistan.

England's qualifying group stage games are against Scotland, the hosts South Africa and lastly the West Indies. Captained by Hampshire's Tom Prest, England were beaten U19 CWC finalists in 2022.

Next year's Under-19 tournament, originally scheduled for Sri Lanka, will be based 4,400 feet above sea level on South Africa's high veldt, with England in action in the university town of Potchefstroom.

The squad has already had one intensive training session at Loughborough and will report back to head coach Michael Yardy over the new year holiday weekend.

A fast medium opening bowler and emerging batsman, Morgan was a lead player in the Winchester side that won 26 of its 29 fixtures this past summer, starting by lifting the prestigious Arch trophy in the Emirates.

He also featured strongly in the college's Under-17 team which reached its national age group cup final where they were beaten by Shrewsbury.

Winchester College head coach Paul Gover said: "Seb came to the school when he was 13 and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with him.

"He has a fantastic work ethic and determination to improve, even though at times he may not always show you much!

"Middlesex tend to look after his bowling and I have worked mainly on his batting, which I believe is becoming stronger and stronger, in my opinion he will become a genuine all rounder.

"We are all absolutely delighted he is going to the World Cup. What a fantastic achievement, and opportunity to play cricket in January and February at the highest level, we wish him all the best."

Away from college where he is studying A-levels in chemistry, maths and physics, Morgan plays club cricket for Ealing, helping the club win the Middlesex Knockout cup. 

All-rounder, Morgan, had a stellar year in the Middlesex EPG programme in 2023 with both bat and ball - scoring 508 runs at 50.80 and taking 16 wickets.

Captaining Middlesex, he struck 200 not out with the bat for the Under-16s against Essex, whilst his best figures with the ball (4/34) came against Yorkshire in the ECB U16 County Cup final at Loughborough. 

He went on to make two late season 2nd XI appearances against Essex and struck the winning boundary in a thrilling 359-run fourth innings run chase.

Two Winchester batters, Wilf La Fontaine Jackson and Henry Nicholls, scored over 1,000 runs last summer - a rare double feat in schools cricket - while leg-spin all-rounder Ethan Baker was selected to play for the MCC Schools at Lord's.