New Zealand is the newest country to qualify for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024, which will be held in Sri Lanka. They won the East Asia-Pacific Qualifier, which took place in Australia and ended on June 21.
Oscar Jackson’s talented team won significant games along the way and went undefeated throughout the tournament. They were confirmed as the 13th team going to next year’s main event because they finished the tournament at the top of the standings with a win against Indonesia on Monday.
The announced teams for Sri Lanka 2024 are now Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe.
Since the first game on June 12, when the tournament started, a number of great individual efforts have given the winners a lot to cheer about. Players like Zac Cumming, Alex Thomson, and Tom Jones, who had the most runs scored in the competition (283), led New Zealand ascent to qualification. This shows how strong the team at the top of the table is in all areas.
Jackson, the leader of New Zealand, said of his team’s qualification for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024, “Of course, all of the boys are excited about our qualification. We have been very lucky to have had such great preparation for this event over the last few months.
“As a team, we’re excited to go to Darwin and play cricket in a way that we’re all really proud of. I’m so proud of how the boys have come together to make such a good place for everyone to be.
“Our team knows that there is still a lot of hard work to do in the next few months before Sri Lanka, but we are happy with where we are going as a team.”
In other games, Japan did well, even though they lost the first game of the event. They won their last five games in Darwin and ended up in second place. Kiefer Yamamoto-Lake, who took 17 wickets, was the tournament’s top wicket-taker. Against Vanuatu, he took seven wickets for only 11 runs, which was a great performance.
Sunia Tuiwai Yalimaiwai, a bowler for Fiji, won the Player of the Tournament award on Wednesday after the last round of games. He did a lot to win games against PNG (three for 23) and Indonesia (five for 13), in particular. Other bowlers also made news in Darwin, where three hat-tricks were scored over the course of the ten-day event.
With New Zealand’s qualification, there are only three spots left for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024.
The remaining regional qualifiers in Africa, Europe, and the Americas will decide the final three teams.
The next event, the Africa Regional Qualifier, will take place in Tanzania from July 23 to July 29. Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda will all be trying to earn a spot at the U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup.
At the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024, the best young players from all over the world will play against each other. This will continue the event’s long history of creating future stars of the men’s game. For the first time since 2006, the event will be held in Sri Lanka for the 15th time.
The last qualifying events for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024 will be held in Tanzania from July 23 to July 29, 2023. Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda will be competing.
Regional Qualifier for Europe, 6–12 August, Netherlands
Guernsey, Italy, Jersey, the Netherlands, Norway, and Scotland are all competing teams.
Regional Qualifier for the Americas, August 11–17, Canada
Competing Teams: Argentina, Bermuda, Canada, Suriname, USA
Qualification for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2024 Structure
At the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Sri Lanka 2024, there will be 41 games between 16 teams. As the best-placed Full Member countries from the last event in 2022, 11 teams have already qualified for the event. These are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and Zimbabwe.
One team from each region makes it to the game, which determines the other five spots.
In 2023, one qualifying event will be held in the Americas and one in the EAP. The winner of each qualifying event will earn a spot at the U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2024.
Each of the Africa, Asia, and Europe areas has a two-step process for qualifying. In 2022, these areas held Division 2 Qualifiers to find out which teams would participate in the second and final qualifying event, the Regional Qualifier, which would be held in 2023.
The U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Sri Lanka 2024 will only be open to the winning teams from the regional qualifiers.
Nepal and New Zealand moved on from their respective areas at the end of the Asia and EAP qualification pathways.