The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the schedule of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016, which will be held across eight venues in four Bangladesh cities from January 27 to February 14 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. 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.
In the 2014 event in the UAE, Star Sports and its licensees had broadcast 11 matches, while 10 matches each were televised from the 2008, 2010 and 2012 events in Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia respectively.
This increased broadcast coverage is a clear reflection in the enhanced profile of the event, which is billed as the platform for future stars. This claim can be substantiated by the fact that nine of the 10 current Test captains have previously played in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cups, while Pakistan’s One-Day International captain Azhar Ali participated in the 2002 tournament in New Zealand.
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.
The teams are divided into four groups.
Group A: South Africa, Bangladesh, Scotland and Namibia.
Group B: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Canada.
Group C: England, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Fiji.
Group D: Australia, India, New Zealand and Nepal.
Schedule:
Group matches
27 Jan – England v Fiji, CDVS, Chittagong; South Africa v Bangladesh*, ZACS, Chittagong
28 Jan – Australia v India*, Mirpur; New Zealand v Nepal, Fatullah; Pakistan v Afghanistan, SICS, Sylhet; Sri Lanka v Canada, SDVC, Sylhet
29 Jan – Zimbabwe v Fiji, CDVS, Chittagong; England v West Indies*, ZACS, Chittagong; Scotland v Namibia, Cox’s Bazar (main)
30 Jan – India v New Zealand*, Mirpur; Australia v Nepal, Fatullah; Sri Lanka v Afghanistan, SICS, Sylhet; Pakistan v Canada, SDVC, Sylhet
31 Jan – West Indies v Fiji, CDVS, Chittagong; England v Zimbabwe*, ZACS, Chittagong; Bangladesh v Scotland, Cox’s Bazar (main); South Africa v Namibia, Cox’s Bazar (second)
1 Feb – India v Nepal*, Mirpur; Australia v New Zealand, Fatullah; Afghanistan v Canada, SICS, Sylhet
2 Feb – West Indies v Zimbabwe*, ZACS, Chittagong; Bangladesh v Namibia, Cox’s Bazar (main); South Africa v Scotland, Cox’s Bazar (second)
3 Feb – Pakistan v Sri Lanka*, Mirpur
Plate Championship
4 Feb – Plater quarter-final 1 (AA3 v DD4), Cox’s Bazar (main); Plate quarter-final 3 (DD3 v AA4), Cox’s Bazar (second)
5 Feb – Plate quarter-final 2 (BB3 v CC4), Cox’s Bazar (main); Plate quarter-final 4 (CC3 v BB4), Cox’s Bazar (second)
7 Feb – Plate play/off semi 1 (loser PQF1 v loser PQF4), Cox’s Bazar (main)
8 Feb – Plate semi-final 1 (winner PQF1 v winner PQF4), Cox’s Bazar (main); Plate play/off 2 (loser PQF2 v loser PQF3), Cox’s Bazar (second)
9 Feb – Plate semi-final 2 (winner PQF2 v winner PQF3), Cox’s Bazar (second)
10 Feb – Plate play/off for 13th/14th positions (winner plate play/off semi-final 1 v winner plate play/off semi-final 2), Cox’s Bazar (main)
11 Feb – Plate play/off for 15th/16th positions (loser plate play/off semi-final 1 v loser plate play/off semi-final 2), Cox’s Bazar (second
12 Feb – Plate final (winner plate semi-final 1 v winner plate semi-final 2), Cox’s Bazar (main); plate play/off for 11th/ 12th positions (loser plate semi-final 1 v loser plate semi-final 2), Cox’s Bazar (second)
Super League
5 Feb – Super League quarter-final 1* (AA1 v DD2), Mirpur
6 Feb – Super League quarter-final 3* (DD1 v AA2), Fatullah
7 Feb – Super League quarter-final 4* (CC1 v BB2), Mirpur
8 Feb – Super League quarter-final 2* (BB1 v CC2), Fatullah
9 Feb – Super League semi-final 1* (winner Super League quarter-final 1 v winner Super League quarter-final 4), Mirpur; Super League play/off semi-final 1* (loser Super League quarter-final 1 v loser Super League quarter-final 4), Fatullah
10 Feb – Super League play/off semi-final 2* (loser Super League quarter-final 2 v loser Super League quarter-final 3), Fatullah
11 Feb – Super League semi-final 2* (winner Super League quarter-final 2 v winner Super League quarter-final 3), Mirpur; Super League play/off 7th/8th positions* (loser Super League play/off semi-final 1 v loser Super League play/off semi-final 2), Fatullah
12 Feb – Super League play/off for 5th/6th positions* (winner Super League play/off semi-final 1 v winner Super League play/off Super League semi-final 2), Fatullah
13 Feb – Super League play/off four 3rd/4th positions* (loser Super League semi-final 1 v loser Super League semi-final 2), Fatullah
14 Feb – Super League final* (winner Super League semi-final 1 v winner Super League semi-final 2), Mirpur