Excitement on rise as ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025 draws near

The ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup returns for its second edition in January 2025 with the best young talent in the women’s game in action.

Like the first edition which was held in South Africa in 2023, 16 teams will battle it out to be crowned the champions and follow India in etching their names on the trophy.

The reigning champions, as well as the other teams to make the top four in 2023, England, Australia and New Zealand, are set to be among the frontrunners once more.

Four teams will make their debut, including hosts Malaysia, who will stage a major cricket tournament for the first time since 2008 when they hosted the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup. They will be joined by newcomers Nepal, Nigeria and Samoa, with the latter’s first international match coming in the East Asia-Pacific Qualifiers that secured them their place in this World Cup.

Also Read: Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup 2025: India’s squad announced, Niki Prasad to lead

Samoa are the first side from their nation to qualify for any Cricket World Cup, having won five and lost just one game during qualification.

The tournament begins on 18 January, with 12 teams in action across three groups before the hosts and the rest of Group A begin their campaign a day later.

Teams have been drawn into four pools of four, with each team playing the other three teams in their group. That will decide which 12 teams advance to the Super 6 stage, with the four teams who finish bottom of their respective pools playing off to decide the standings from 13th to 16th.

Scotland and the United States are the two returning teams who failed to make it to the Super 6s last time, so will be hoping to fare better in Malaysia.

The Super 6 stage, made up of two groups of six, will see sides play those they have yet to face in the tournament, with those results added to their initial group stage standings. The top two teams in each Super 6 pool will then advance to the semi-finals, which are to be played on 31 January, with the final following two days later.

In 2023, in South Africa, India and England went undefeated on their ways to the final, with the latter recording a thrilling three-ball victory over Australia in the semi-final.

Australia had been involved in the first shock of the tournament in the very first match as they were beaten comfortably by Bangladesh, thanks to 40 runs from Dilara Akter, who has since been part of the senior ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

A high point for Australia was the emergence of Maggie Clark, with the then-15-year-old taking 12 wickets to end as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker. Clark has been selected for her second U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, with wicketkeeper Karabo Meso of South Africa another of the players named in the Team of the Tournament to be returning for a second time.

Grace Scrivens of England hit the highest score of the tournament with 93 against Ireland and has since graduated to the senior side, along with several players from across the teams involved in the first tournament.

The tournament is to be played across four venues with Pandamaran’s Bayuemas Oval to be the base for Group A, while Johor Cricket Academy Oval hosts Group B.

The UKM-YSD Cricket Oval in Bangi stages the Group C fixtures, while Borneo Cricket Ground in Sarawak plays host to Group D games.

All the grounds then host Super 6 and play-off matches before everyone moves to Pandamaran for the final stages at the 3,000 capacity stadium.

India will look to be back there to defend their crown, having stormed to the title against England two years ago to set off a wave of positivity that is ready to roll on to Malaysia.