The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the schedule of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016.
According to press release issued on Monday, the tournament will be held across eight venues in four Bangladesh cities from 27 January to 14 February 2016.
Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka and Sylhet will share 48 matches between them during the 19-day tournament, which will open with the match between defending champion South Africa and host Bangladesh at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (ZACS) in Chittagong.
The tournament will culminate with the final at the iconic Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
All matches will be day fixtures and will start at 0930 local time. The Super League semi-finals and final will have reserve days.
For the first time in the history of this competition, ICC will produce live broadcast coverage of an unprecedented 20 matches.
The matches which will be shown around the world by ICC broadcast partner, Star Sports and its licensees, include four from Chittagong, nine from Mirpur and seven from Fatullah.
Announcing the schedule, ICC General Manager – Cricket, Geoff Allardice, said: “The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup an event which provides talented youngsters an early taste of international cricket in a global setting. Countless players have come through this event, and emerged shortly afterwards on to the international arena.
“It is at this tournament that the players also receive important education on topics such anti-doping and anti-corruption, which provides them a head start on the challenges that lie ahead for professional sportsmen.
“Bangladesh has staged a number of ICC events in the past and all these have been hugely successful because of the passionate and enthusiastic crowds as well as high quality playing facilities.”
According to the event format, the 16 sides have been equally divided into four groups of four each, with the top two from each group progressing to the Super League stage and the bottom two to feature in the Plate Championship.
Apart from the 10 Test playing countries, six Associate and Affiliate Member sides – Afghanistan, Canada, Fiji, Namibia, Nepal and Scotland – will also participate after winning the various regional qualifying events.
Reflecting on his time at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2006 in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, said: “I played in the 2006 event and it prepared me for the international stage. So, when I went to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 the following year, I had a fairly good idea of what to expect.
“The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup is like a dress rehearsal for the senior level. It is the first stepping stone for every international cricketer. You can actually get a reasonable picture of the future. The genuine articles, the ones that are going to proceed to the next level and beyond can be identified here if you take a good look.”