ZIMBABWE has reason for optimism ahead of the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 Cricket World Cup, after they were pooled together with England, West Indies and Fiji in Group C.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
The 2016 tournament, which was officially launched in Dhaka, Bangladesh yesterday, will be held across eight venues in four cities in the Asian country from January 27 to February 14 next year.
Zimbabwe will have an opportunity to get their campaign to a flying start, when they take on minnows Fiji in their opening match to be played at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium on January 29.
The Stephen Mangongo-coached side will then face their first real test of the tournament against England at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, two days before taking on West Indies in their final group match at the same venue on February 2.
The top two teams in each of the four groups will advance to the Super League quarter-finals, with the other sides dropping to the Plate Championship competition.
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Zimbabwe, who have found the going tough in their recent appearances at the World Cup, need a convincing win against Fiji and an upset against either the West Indies or England to progress to the quarter-finals of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
The youth team will have an opportunity to fine tune their preparations and acclimatise to the sub-continent conditions in two official warm-up matches against Bangladesh and Namibia on January 23 and 25 respectively.
Last month, the national U-19 side played Bangladesh, losing four 50-over matches.
Meanwhile, in the opening match of the tournament, hosts Bangladesh will face defending champions South Africa at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on January 27, while the final will be held at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on February 14.
Announcing the schedule, ICC general manager (cricket), Geoff Allardice, said: “The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup is an event that 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.
“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.”
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.
2016 ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Draw Group A: South Africa, Bangladesh, Scotland, Namibia Group B: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Canada Group C: England, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Fiji Group D: Australia, India, New Zealand, Nepal