TEENAGE Coleraine cricketer Varun Chopra has spoken of his excitement after being named in the Ireland squad for the ICC Under-19 World Cup tournament which begins in Bangladesh at the end of this month.

Chopra, who at 15 is the youngest member of the squad, admits it is a "once in a lifetime" opportunity and one he is determined to seize.

Ireland stepped in at the last moment to replace Australia who withdrew from the tournament and will play group games against India, Nepal and New Zealand over the next month.

"I am thrilled - I couldn't believe it when I heard,"admitted Varun.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and one I have to take with both hands.

"Ireland acted very quickly once it was known Australia had pulled put and their loss is our gain," he added.

The Irish party leaves on Friday and will play a number of warm-up games before the opening group game against India in Mirpur on January 28.

Two days later it's Nepal in Fatullah with the final group game against New Zealand due to take place in Fatullah on February 1.

"It's a tough group but we would hope to beat Nepal and hopefully win one of the other two games," added Varun, a GCSE student at Coleraine Grammar School.

"A successful tournament for us would be getting out of the group. We've a good enough team so hopefully with a bit of luck we can do that."

In all, Ireland make three changes from the squad which narrowly missed out on automatic qualification in Malaysia in October with coach Ryan Eagleson grateful for being given a second chance.

"We played some excellent cricket at both the European qualifiers in Jersey and the global qualifying event in Malaysia,Ó said the U19 head coach.

"Unfortunately we lost out at the final hurdle on both occasions but we've been handed this lifeline which we intend to make the most of.

"We're all extremely grateful to the ICC for the opportunity to play in the World Cup and although we know it will be tough, we're determined to make everyone proud," he added.