The tournament features 16 teams in total, the 10 Full Members and six Associate and Affiliate qualifiers from the ICC U19 CWC Qualifier held in Toronto last year. They are divided into four groups with matches taking place in Christchurch, Napier, Palmerston North and Queenstown.
Over the years, some household names started off their international careers at this event, including Chris Gayle, Brian Lara (West Indies), Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan), Yuvraj Singh (India), Graeme Swann (England) and, more recently, Wayne Parnell (South Africa) and Virat Kohli (India).
Another top player who passed through the U19 CWC education is New Zealand’s Ross Taylor, who captained the junior BLACKCAPS at the 2002 event and he believes the tournament is a great opportunity for young players to face the very best players in the world in their age group.
“Playing in the under-19s gave me a good benchmark as to where I was in my cricketing abilities. In cricket, you play to represent your country and so you have a fairly decent idea as to where you are in your world but the U19 CWC gives you a chance to play international opposition and to see what standard of play is out there, further afield.
“Many of those players I faced at under-19 level have stepped up and are now playing at a world-class level,” said Taylor.
“The World Cup that I captained New Zealand in was eventually won by Australia and in that side were Cameron White and Shaun Marsh who were playing extremely well at domestic level and then came to the under-19s and also dominated. There were other players who also made an impact – Pakistan’s Umar Gul, West Indies’ Dwayne Bravo and also our own Jesse Ryder, too.
“New Zealand is a quiet and unique country and I think a lot of the cricketers who come from the sub-continent will perhaps get a shock with the weather, although in January it shouldn’t be too bad.
“New Zealanders love their sport so I’m sure they will all get behind the U19 CWC and the fact it’s being hosted in their country.”
New Zealand’s Martin Guptill, who played in the 2006 event in Sri Lanka, agreed with both players that this tournament was a real chance to get your playing abilities noticed.
“I personally didn’t have a great tournament with the bat in Sri Lanka but to have the opportunity to play on a world stage was huge for me. All the teams should really take the time to enjoy themselves and play their best cricket and, who knows, they may end up in the senior squad before they know it.”
* Content provided by the ICC
http://iccu19worldcup.yahoo.net/index.html
