Watch selected games on Sky Sports in January and February
Thursday 18 January 2018 08:25, UK
The 2018 Under-19 World Cup gets underway in New Zealand this weekend with selected games broadcast live on Sky Sports, including the final on Saturday, February 3.
England, captained by Yorkshire batsman Harry Brook, will be aiming to win the title for the first time since 1998, with Australia and India looking for their fourth victories in the event.
Windies are the defending champions, however, having beaten India in the 2016 final in Bangladesh to land their maiden Under-19 World Cup crown.
Here is what you need to know about the 2018 competition…
Who's taking part?
The 10 full ICC members - England, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Windies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh - qualified automatically, with Namibia awarded a spot after finishing as the best of the associate nations in the 2016 tournament.
The 16-team field is rounded out by Afghanistan, Kenya, Canada, Papua New Guinea and Ireland, who qualified courtesy of winning regional Under-19 tournaments - Ireland defeating Scotland in Jersey in July to win the European section.
The 16 sides have been drawn as follows in the Under 19 World Cup:
GROUP A
Kenya, South Africa, New Zealand, Windies
GROUP B
Australia, India, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe
GROUP C
Bangladesh, Canada, ENGLAND, Namibia
GROUP D
Afghanistan, IRELAND, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
How does it work?
The top two sides from each group advance to the Super League quarter-finals, before semi-finals and then the final are contested.
However, the bottom two teams in each group move on the Plate quarter-finals, before semi-finals and a final are also played out in that section.
There will be a series of placement matches, too, to determine who finishes from first all the way down to 16th, so each team will see plenty of action with something resting on every game.
ENGLAND SQUAD
Harry Brook (Yorkshire, captain)
Ethan Bamber (Middlesex)
Liam Banks (Warwickshire)
Tom Banton (Somerset, wk)
Jack Davies (Middlesex, wk)
Adam Finch (Worcestershire)
Luke Hollman (Middlesex)
Will Jacks (Surrey)
Tom Lammonby (Somerset)
Dillon Pennington (Worcestershire)
Savin Perera (Middlesex)
Prem Sisodiya (Glamorgan)
Tom Scriven (Hampshire)
Fin Trenouth (Somerset)
Roman Walker (Glamorgan)
Who else should we look out for?
Offspring of famous cricketers, with Austin Waugh - son of Steve - in the Australia squad and Thando Ntini - son of Makhaya - in South Africa's.
Australia will be captained by Jason Sangha, who, while playing for Cricket Australia in an Ashes warm-up, became the youngest Australian to score a first-class century against England and youngest from any country since Sachin Tendulkar.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
1988 - Australia
1998 - ENGLAND
2000 - India
2002 - Australia
2004 - Pakistan
2006 - Pakistan
2008 - India
2010 - Australia
2012 - India
2014 - South Africa
2016 - Windies
ENGLAND'S PERFORMANCES
1988 - 4th
1998 - 1st (beat New Zealand in the final)
2000 - 6th
2002 - 7th
2004 - 4th
2006 - 4th
2008 - 5th
2010 - 8th
2012 - 5th
2014 - 3rd
2016 - 6th
SELECTED TOP RUN SCORERS
Chris Gayle (Windies) - 1998
Graeme Smith (South Africa) - 2000
Shikhar Dhawan (India) - 2004
Cheteshwar Pujara (India) - 2006
Jack Burnham (England) - 2016
Nasser Hussain (1988) and Alastair Cook (2004) came third and second in the run-scoring charts in their respective tournaments, while Ben Stokes scored a century for England, against India, in 2010.
England's one-day captain Eoin Morgan has the most runs in the history of the event, accruing a combined 606 runs while playing for Ireland in 2004 and 2006.
Essex batsman Dan Lawrence also impressed for England in 2016, with 174 from 150 balls against Fiji, the second-highest individual score in the history of the tournament.
LIVE FIXTURES ON SKY SPORTS CRICKET*
New Zealand v Windies: Saturday, Jan 13 (12.55am)
India v Australia: Sunday, Jan 14 (12.55am)
ENGLAND v Namibia: Sunday, Jan 14 (9.25pm)
India v Papua New Guinea: Tuesday, Jan 16 (12.55am)
Windies v South Africa: Wednesday, Jan 17 (12.55am)
Bangladesh v ENGLAND: Wednesday, Jan 17 (9.25pm)
India v Zimbabwe: Friday, Jan 19 (12.55am)
New Zealand v South Africa: Saturday, Jan 20 (12.55am)
*live knockout-stage fixtures to be announced in due course
Watch the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup live on Sky Sports in January and February.
