U19 World Cup 2018: All that you need to know about the tournament

The U19 World Cup has always been one of the most anticipated tournaments in world cricket and that’s simply because it gives the fans an opportunity to have a glimpse of the next generation of superstars, the players who have it in them to become household names in future and to be fair, the tournament has produced some really big names so far.

The likes of Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Kagiso Rabada and many others, they first burst onto the scene in the U-19 World Cup only and went on to make it big at the senior level. So the tournament has its own importance.

The 12th edition of the U19 World Cup is on the horizon. Let’s have a look at everything that you need to know about it:

Host country

New Zealand will be the country hosting the tournament. The matches will be organised across 7 different venues which are:

• Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui
• Lincoln Green, Lincoln
• Hagley Oval, Christchurch
• Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln
• John Davies Oval, Queenstown
• Cobham Oval, Whangarei
• Rangiora Recreation Ground, Rangiora

Duration of the tournament

13th January 2018 to 18th February 2018

Teams participating

A total of 16 teams will be participating in the tournament. They are Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Afghanistan, Kenya, Canada, Papua New Guinea and Ireland.

While the first 11 teams were given direct entry with the first 10 being the full members of ICC and Namibia being the top associate nation, the remaining 5 teams earned their places in the main draw by winning the qualifying tournaments that were held across continents.

Format

The format of the tournament is a bit complicated. Sixteen teams have been divided into 4 groups of 4 teams each. The teams will play against the other 3 teams in their groups once and will get a certain number of points for every victory they secure. If the victory is by a large margin, there is a provision of bonus points as well.

The teams finishing at the 1st and the 2nd positions in each group on the basis of the points will qualify to the Super League, while the teams finishing at the 3rd and the 4th positions will qualify to the Plate League.

What needs to be noted here is that the teams which qualify for the Plate League will be out of contention for the World Cup title and will play only for the Plate title. Also, the team winning the Plate title will finish no.9 in the final standings of the tournament.

There will be 4 quarterfinals in both Super League and Plate League and the winners will make the Super League and Plate League Semi-Finals respectively and the semis subsequently will determine the finalists in each League. As it has been clarified above, the finalists of the Super League will compete for the World Cup title, while those of the Plate League will compete for the Plate title.

The teams which lose in the quarterfinals of each league will make the Super League Playoff Semi-Finals and Plate League Playoff Semi-Finals respectively. The winners of the Super League Playoff Semi-Finals will then compete for the 5th place, while the losers will compete for the 7th place. Similarly, the winners of the Plate League Playoff Semi-Finals will compete for the 13th place, while the losers will compete for the 15th place.

Brand ambassador

The Black Caps all-rounder Corey Anderson has been named the Brand Ambassador of the tournament by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

History

Australia and India are the two most successful international teams at the U19 level as they have been the Champions thrice each. Pakistan have been super impressive too as they have a couple of titles under their belt. The other three teams to have won the U19 World Cup so far are West Indies, South Africa and England. They have won the tournament once each.

Reigning champions

West Indies had won the last edition of the tournament which was held in Bangladesh in 2016 by beating India by 5 wickets in the final.