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SL to meet defending champions before world cup
Friday, 23 November 2007 - 10:41 PM SL Time
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Sri Lanka will meet last year semifinalists Australia and minnows Nepal and Namibia in Group C in the first round when the ICC Under-19 World Cup commence in Malaysia in February.
Though Sri Lanka have met India, Bangladesh, England and hosts Malaysia in preparatory tournaments during the past one year they have not met any of their Group C counterparts after the last World Cup. But Ashley de Silva, the Manager of the Sri Lanka Under-19 team was optimistic that the team can gain much needed exposure when they meet England and defending champions Pakistan in a pre World Cup tournament in January.
`Pakistan and India are the toughest teams in the tournament. We have met India in a tournament. And we will be meeting England and Pakistan in a tournament in January and that will give youngsters an opportunity to get exposure,` said Ashley.
`Though we have not met Australia we have some positives playing in Malaysia. Conditions in Malaysia are similar to conditions here and we will have an advantage of playing on similar conditions.
`We have won tournaments in Malaysia and most of the players in the current pool took part in the tournaments held in Malaysia over the past one year.
Australia are the only other Test playing National in Group C along with Sri Lanka. Last year when the Under-19 World Cup was held here Australia beat Sri Lanka in a one sided quarter final at the SSC. The other two teams Namibia and Nepal earned their places in the tournament by winning their regional (Asian and African) tournaments.
Sri Lanka commenced their campaign for the Under-19 World Cup some months ago and with only two and half months to go the selectors have reduced the number of players in the squad to 25.
Three players each from Ananda and Nalanda Colleges, two players each from D.S. Senanayake and St. Joseph`s College and one player each from Royal, S. Thomas`, Thurstan, Mahanama, Wesley, De Mazenod, St. Sebastian`s and Prince of Wales College have been selected to the squad.
From outstation schools, two players from Maliyadeva College Kurunegala and one player each from Dharmaraja, Dharmasoka, Trinity, Devananda and St. Aloysius` College Galle have been selected to the squad.
Meanwhile Ashley said that the selectors were considering on expanding the pool to 30 players. `Selectors might consider expanding the squad to 30 after analysing the performances in the on going tournament. They might include few players and we will have the final squad by mid December,` Ashley said.
The tournament
Tournament will get underway with defending champions Pakistan playing the hosts Malaysia on February 17 in Kuala Lumpur, the ICC confirmed on Wednesday in a press release.
Pakistan is the only team to have won back-to-back titles at this level, having triumphed in 2004 and 2006 in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka respectively, and will now aim to make it a hat-trick as it goes into the event as top seed.
The winner from 2000 and beaten finalist last year, India, is seeded second, with Australia (winners in 1988 and 2002) seeded third and England (winners in 1998) fourth as those two sides were losing semi-finalists in 2006.
All four will be in action on the opening day on February 17 when Pakistan meets Malaysia at Johor Cricket Academy in Johor, India faces Papua New Guinea (PNG) at Kinrara Cricket Academy in Kuala Lumpur, Australia takes on Namibia at Penang Sports Club in Penang, and England faces Ireland at Selangor Turf Club in Kuala Lumpur.
All 16 teams will be battling for a place in the final on 2 March in Kuala Lumpur.
The 16 teams have been divided into four groups with the top two teams progressing to the Super League quarter-finals while the two bottom teams from each group qualifying for the Plate Championship quarter-finals. The winners of the Super League quarter-finals will qualify for the semi-finals whereas the losing quarter-finalists will play in the Super League play-offs.
The winners of the Plate Championship quarter-finals will play in the Plate Championship semi-finals while the beaten quarter-finalists will participate in the Plate Championship play-offs.
A total of 44 matches, including 24 in the first round, seven in the Super League and 13 in play-offs will be played in three cities (Penang, Johor and Kuala Lumpur).
Many of the future stars of the game experience their first true international exposure at this tournament and players such as Brian Lara, Michael Atherton, Yuvraj Singh, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Cairns, Michael Clarke, Graeme Smith and Sanath Jayasuriya have used the event as a stepping stone to full international honours.
First staged in Australia in 1988, the tournament was initially organised on an occasional basis, but since the commencement of the ICC Development Program in 1997 it has become a biennial fixture.
The 2010 ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup will be held in Kenya while the 2012 tournament will be staged in Canada and UAE will host the 2014 edition.
Sri Lanka will meet Nepal in their first match on February 18.
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Nayaa
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 198
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 26 Nov 2007 06:37:16 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Hope ICC have changed their stupid way of thinking. Last world cup was a total mess and a failure. |
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