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KARACHI: Pakistan have been placed with Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Scotland in group C of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be played in South Africa next year.
The schedule of the
age-restricted global event was announced on Thursday as it confirmed
that the 16-team event will be played from January 17 to February 10 in
2020 across four cities and eight venues.
Hosts South Africa will play Afghanistan in the opening match on January 17 while Pakistan will open their campaign on January 19 with a match against Scotland at Potchefstroom.
Pakistan will then travel to Bloemfontein where it will play Zimbabwe on Jan 22 before returning to Potchefstroom to take on Bangladesh on 24th January.
Top two teams from all four groups will qualify for the super league quarter-finals which will begin from January 28. Bottom two teams from each group will go to plate league.
The final of the tournament is scheduled to be played on February 9 while February 10 has been fixed as reserved day for the final.
“The U19 Cricket World Cup is a very important event in our calendar as it brings together the world’s most promising young players in a major ICC tournament, giving them the experience of competing on the global stage,” said ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley.
“We have some excellent venues for this tournament, and we are offering free entry to all matches giving cricket fans in South Africa the opportunity to watch the next generation of superstars. I wish all the teams the very best in their preparations for the tournament and to Cricket South Africa in organising the event.”
Some of the world’s best players have showcased their talent at previous editions of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup including top-ranked Test batsman Steve Smith, top-ranked ODI and T20I batsman Virat Kohli, England Test captain Joe Root andNew Zealand captain Kane Williamson.
South Africa have seen several top players like Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Dean Elgar, Wayne Parnell, Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada make it big in international cricket after first catching the eye during U19 World Cups.
Other players to have featured in past editions include Brian Lara (West Indies), Michael Atherton (England), Michael Clarke (Australia), Virender Sehwag (India) Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan) and Rashid Khan (Afghanistan).
India have won the title four times, Australia have won three times, Pakistan have won it twice while England, South Africa and the West Indies have won once each.
Groupings:
Group A: India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Japan
Group B: Australia, England, West Indies, Nigeria
Group C: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Scotland
Group D: Afghanistan, South Africa, UAE, Canada