YOUNG Kent Academy players Alex Blake and Sam Northeast will be heading for Malaysia in the New Year after winning selection on the England Under-19 winter tour.

The pair will be based in Kuala Lumpur for a month from January 24 to play in two, triangular one-day tournaments against Malaysia Under-19 and Sri Lanka Under-19 and then in a second event involving the India and Malaysia Under-19 sides.

Blake, a right-arm seamer and left-handed bat, plays for Kent Premier Division side Beckenham and Sydenham. He is in his third year as a Kent Academy scholar.

He is joined by Sam Northeast, from Walmer, who is a former England Under-15 skipper.

The tour was originally scheduled to take place in Sri Lanka, but now all matches will be played in Kuala Lumpur.

There is no place in the party for Kent’s aspiring wicketkeeper-batsman Paul Dixey, whose spot will be contested between Greg Wood and Ben Brown.

England Under-19 squad: Rory Hamilton-Brown (Surrey, captain), Greg Wood (Yorkshire,vice-captain), Alex Blake (Kent), Ben Brown (Sussex) WK, Karl Brown (Lancashire), Maurice Chambers (Essex), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Billy Godleman (Middlesex), Andrew Miller (Warwickshire), Sam Northeast (Kent), Alex Wakely (Northamptonshire), Mervyn Westfield (Essex), Ben Wright (Glamorgan).