The 2024 Men’s U-19 World Cup will kick off with hosts Sri Lanka taking on Zimbabwe on January 13. Defending champions will India will take on Bangladesh, to begin their campaign the following day.
The 41-match tournament will be played across 23 days in five venues, all in Colombo. The R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium will host the tournament opener, the semi-finals on January 30 and February 1, along with the final on February 4. The P Sara Oval, Colombo Cricket Club, Nondescripts Cricket Club, and the Sinhalese Sports Club are the other venues.
The top 11 Full Member sides from the 2022 edition have qualified directly, and five teams – Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Scotland, and USA – have earned their spots through regional qualification events.
New ‘Super Six’ format for 2024
The ICC has also announced a fresh format. While the 16 teams will initially be grouped into four groups of four, there will be 12 teams qualifying into the round, instead of the eight previously. The Super Six stage will see two groups of six teams each, with the top four progressing to the semi-finals.
Earlier, the second round consisted of the top eight teams moving into the Super League – a knock-out format for the World Cup title – while the bottom eight went into knockouts for the Plate trophy.
India are joined by Bangladesh in Group A, alongside Ireland and USA. Group B consists of England, South Africa, West Indies, and Scotland. Group C features Australia, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Group D has Afghanistan, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Nepal.
Each team will play two warm-up matches between January 7 and 11 across four venues. India, with five titles, are the most successful team in the competition’s history, followed by Australia with three. Pakistan have won twice and each of England, Bangladesh, South Africa, and West Indies have lifted the crown once.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo