Canada’s U19 World Cup contest begins January 19th

BY KAYLA KARIM

In its thirteenth year, the 2020 Under 19 Cricket World Cup will begin on January 17^th through February 9^th 2020 in South Africa. Sixteen teams, split into four, will be taking part and the top two teams from each group will advance to the Super League. While the bottom two teams in each group move on to the Plate League.

The top eleven full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the 2018 World Cup automatically for the 2020 tournament, while fifty other teams took part in a qualification process in 2018 and 2019. Nigeria became the first team to win their regional qualification group for their first time in history alongside Japan who also qualified for their first time in history.

The teams participating in the tournament are:
Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Scotland

The U19 West Indies team are in Group B alongside Australia, England and Nigeria with their first game being on January 18^th versus the Aussies at the Diamond Oval.

Meanwhile, Canada will be playing in Group D, with Afghanistan, South Africa, and UAE. The Canadians will begin their contest on January 18^th against UAE at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontien.

Canada’s 15 member ICC 2020 Under-19 World Cup playing squad consists of Ashtan Deosammy (Captain), Akhil Kumar, Arshdeep Dhaliwal, Ayush Verma, Benjamin Calitz, Eshan Sensarma, Gurjot Gosal, Mihir Patel, Muhammad Kamal, Nicholas Manohar, Randhir Sandhu, Raqib Shamsudeen, Rishiv Joshi, Udaybir Walia and Harmandeep Singh Bedi. Along with its Manager Anil Khanna and Head Coach Farouk Kirmani, the Squad will also include Assistant Coach Kulbir Jaswal, Analyst Shah Zafar and Physio Tejash Patel.

Canada had the opportunity to face West Indies in a warm up match earlier in January. Despite great efforts from Akhil Kumar with 59 and Ayush Verma, as well as outstanding bowling by Rishiv Joshi, Canada fell just short against the former 2016 Champions, West Indies. The match was a part of both teams preparing for the upcoming tournament and a good test for Canada to experience international contest.

Prior to the loss on January 13^th, Canada’s U19 team had played two matches against South Africa’s Assupo Tuks Cricket Club winning the first game and dropping the second. Joshi secured 4 wickets for 9 runs in the first game and Canada’s captain Ashtan Deosammy, made 46 but was unable to prevent the Canadians from losing by 65 runs.

Fans are able to live stream the matches from Star Sports, Hotstar, Willow TV, ESPN and more to catch all of the action from the U19 Cricket World Cup.