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by Ranjan Anandappa

The sixth Under 19 cricket World Cup, the second to be held in Sri Lanka will get underway from February 5 to 19 in Colombo.

A schedule of 44 matches will be played in 15 days in five different venues in Colombo.

The matches are confined to Colombo and will be played at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Khettarama. SSC, NCC, CCC and the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium.

Sri Lanka earlier hosted the championsip in year 2000, and has the previllage to stage it for the second time after four six years.

When it was held in the Island for the first time in year 2000, India beat hosts Sri Lanka to clinch the title.

The championship has proved beyond doubt the great opportunities for young Test aspirants. In the very first tournament held in Australia in 1988 the world saw the emergence of West Indian Brian Lara, and Pakistan's present captain Inzamam-UL-Haq and leg spinner Mushtaq Ahamed, Basit Ali and Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva being the driving force for their countries and later became important members for their teams.

New Zealanders James Franklyn and Chris Cairns with Australian Steuart Law and England's Mike Artherton and Nasser Hussain who led their country with distinction were also youth world cup players.

Later players of the calibre of Chris Gale, R.Sarwan and Indians Virendra Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Ajith Agarkar and Mohammed Kaif, Irfan Pathan, with Pakistanis Shahid Afridi, Shoib Malik and Younis Khan, the present day stars all being previous world cup players.

Jehan Mubarak, Upul Tharanga, Malinga Bandara, Akalanka Ganegama and Ferveez Maharoof were some of World Cup players who had represented Sri Lanka in the recent past and presently performing in Australia for the best team.

The tournament got a kick - start in Australia in 1988 and there after it was held in South Africa in 1998 after a lapse of a decade. It was held in Sri Lanka in year 2000 and in New Zealand in 2002 and in Bangladesh in 2004. Pakistan are the defending champions.

They beat the West Indies by 25 runs in the final at Dhaka. In this year's championship, Bangladesh, Scotland and Nepal are expected to give their opponents a good run with lot of potential and talent available.

The groupings of the sixteen participating teams.

Group 'A': Pakistan, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Uganda.

Group 'B': West Indies, South Africa, Australia, United States of America.

Group 'C': India, Sri Lanka, Scotland, Namibia,

Group 'D': England, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Nepal.

Fixtures

Sunday 5 February (Group 'A'): New Zealand vs Bangladesh - P. Sara Stadium. (Group 'B'): South Africa vs Australia -SSC. (Group'C'): Scotland vs Sri Lanka at Khettarama.(Group 'D'): Zimbabwe vs Ireland at NCC.

Monday 6 February. Group 'A': Pakistan Vs Uganda at P. Sara. 'B': West Indies vs USA at NCC 'C': India Vs Namibia at Khettarama

Tuesday 7 February. Group 'A': New Zealand vs Uganda at NCC 'B': South Africa vs USA. at P. Sara. 'C': Sri Lanaka vs Namibia at Khettarama. 'D': Zimbabwe Vs Nepal at CCC.

Wednesday 8 February. Group 'A': Pakistan vs B'desh at NCC, 'B': W. Indies vs Australia at SSC, 'C': India Vs Scotland at Khettarama Stadium 'D': England Vs Ireland at CCC.

Thursday 9 February. Group 'A': Bangladesh vs Uganda at SSC 'B': Australia vs USA at P. Sara Stadium, 'C': Scotland Vs Namibia at CCC, 'D': Ireland vs Nepal at NCC.

Friday 10 February. Group 'A': Pakistan vs New Zealand at SSC. 'B': West Indies vs South Africa at P. Sara Stadium. 'C': India vs Sri Lanaka at Khettarama, 'D': England vs Simbabwe at CCC.

The top two teams from each of the four groups will qualify for the super league and will play off each other in the quarter finals. The bottom two teams from each of the four groups will qualify to play in the Plate championship quarter finals and will also play off against each other .

Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka) and Allen Hurst (Australia) are the match referees.

Twelve umpires, eight from the Emirates International Panel and four from the Associate Affiliated Panel will officiate at the tournament.

It is interesting to note that three umpires Shahul Hameed (Indonesia), Roger Dill (Bermuda) and Paul Baldwin(Germany) are down to stand with their more experienced counterparts. Dill, Hameed and Buddi Pradhan from Nepal have officiated in the ICC trophy 2005 in Ireland in July. Dill and Baldwin have stood in the semi finals in the ICC Intercontinental Cup held last October in Namibia.

The Emirates panel of International Umpires:

Gary Baxter (New Zealnd), Steve Davis (Australia), Billy Doctrove (West Indies), Nadeem Ghavri (Pakistan), Krishna Hariharan (India), Asoka de Silva, Peter Manuel, Tyronne Wijewardena (Sri Lanka), Associate and Affiliate panel.

Paul Baldwin (Germany), Roger Dill (Bermuda), Buddi Pradhan (Nepal). Shahul Hameed (Indonesia)

Under 19 World Cup teams

Australia

Moises Henriques (Captain), Aaron Finch, Jackson Bird, Tom Cooper, Ben Cutting, Jon Holland, Simon Keen, Usman Khawaja, Jack McNamara, Adam Ritchard, William Sheridan, Tom Stray, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Geoffrey Tamblyn - Manager, Brian McFadyen - Coach, Maxwell Pfitzner - Physiotherapist, Matthew Mott - Assistant Coach.

Bangladesh

Dolar Mahmud (Captain), Ishraq Sonet, Kamrul Islam, Mehdi Hasan, Mehrab Hossain jnr, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nabil Samad, Raqibul Hasan, Rezaul Islam, Saqibul Hasan, Shamsur Rahman, Sirajullah Khadim, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Tamim Iqbal, Allister de Winter - Coach, Abedeen Nazmul - Asst Coach, Golam Mohammed - Manager, Samuel Byrne - Trainer-Physio, Mohammad Salauddin - Computer Analyst.

England

Moeen Ali (Captain), Varun Chopra, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Nicholas James, Andrew Miller, Steven Mullaney, John Simpson, Mark Stoneman, Huw Waters, Graeme White, Greg Wood, Robert Woodman, Ben Wright, Mark Nelson, Andy Pick - Coach, John Abrahams - Manager, Rosalind Shuttleworth - Physiotherapist.

India

Ravikant Shukla (Captain), Piyush Chawla, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Mayank Tehlan, Debabrata Das, Ravindra Singh Jadeja, Pinal Shah, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Nadeem Shah Baz, Monish Parmar, Sourabh Bandekar, Gourav Dhiman, Yo Mahesh, Manager - Dr. G. Natarajan, Coach - Venkatesh Prasad, Physiotherapist - Dr. Muthu Kumar.

Ireland

Neil Gill (Captain), James Hall, Richard Keaveney, Gary Kidd, Fintan McAllister, Niall McDarby, Gareth McKee, Gavin McKenna, Eoin Morgan, Andrew Poynter, David Rankin, Richard Stirling, Greg Thompson, Gary Wilson, Brian Walsh - Manager, Adrian Birrell - Coach, Brian O'Rourke - Coach, Iain Knox - Physiotherapist.

Namibia

Stephanus Ackermann (Captain), Jason Bandlow, Dawid Botha, Morne Engelbrecht, Pieter Grove, Andrew Louw, Floris Marx, Hendrik Marx, Marc Olivier, Henno Prinsloo, Nicholas Scholtz, Ewaid Steenkamp, Keady Strauss, Louis van der Westhuizen, Andrew Waller - Coach, Jacques Fryer - Manager, Sumithra Edirisinghe - Physio.

Nepal

Kanishka Chaugai (Captain), Paras Khadka, Mahesh Chhetri, Sharad Vesawker, Yashwant Subedi, Gyanendra Malla, Prem Chaudhary, Basanta Regmi, Raj Shrestha, Ratan Rauniyar, Bantu Bataju, Sashi Kesari, Abhaya Rana, Amrit Bhattarai, Tarini Shah - Manager, Diwakar Ghale Gurung - Assistant Manager, Roy Dias - Coach, Shankar Rana - Assistant Coach.

New Zealand

Marc Ellison (Captain), Todd Astle, Dean Bartlett, Hamish Bennett, Andrew de Boorder, Jason Donnelly, Nicolas Fitzgerald, Shaun Fitzgibbon, Martin Guptill, Roneel Hira, Ronald Karaitiana, Colin Munro, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Timothy Southee, Dayle Hadlee - Manager, Dipak Patel - Coach, Shane Derry - Physiotherapist.

Pakistan

Ali Asad (Captain), Ali Khan, Imad Wasim, Jamshed Ahmed, Mohammad Faheem, Sarfraz Ahmed, Usman Malik, Riaz Kail, Nasir Jamshed, Rameez Raja, Mohammad Ibrahim, Anwar Ali, Akhtar Ayub, Mohammad Laeeq, Aftab Baluch - Manager, Mansoor Rana - Coach, Thomas Grant - Trainer.

Scotland

Richard Berrington (Captain), David Bill, Tyler Buchan, Robert Cannon, Kasiam Farid, Gordon Goudie, Andrew Hislop, Moneeb Iqbal, Scott MacLennan, Calum MacLeod, Umair Mohammed, Rajeev Routray, Sean Weeraratna, Aamir Mehmond, Peter Drinnen - Coach, Andrew Lawson - Assistant Coach, Andrew Raselli - Physio, Tino Weeraratna - Manager.

South Africa

Dean Elgar (Captain), Craig Alexander, Pieter Daneel, Richard das Neves, Craig Kieswetter, Richard Levi, Grant Mokoena, Wayne Parnelle, Romano Ramoo, Mafinki Serame, Mthokozisi Shezi, Malusi Siboto, Jean Symes, Brett Thompson, Coach - Ray Jennings, Manager - Jay Naidoo, Technical Advisor - Anton Ferreira.

Sri Lanka

Angelo Mathews (Captain), Sameera Soysa, Sachithra Serasinghe, Dimuth Karunaratne, Hans Fernando, Dilhan Cooray, Shalika Karunanayake, Sachith Pathirana, Tissara Perera, Chathupama Gunasinghe, Rajeeva Weerasinghe, Ashan Priyanjana, Prabudhdha Perera, Malinga Pushpakumara, Sumithra Warnakulasuriya (coach), Hemal Mendis (asst coach), Ashley de Silva (manager), Ruwan Kalpage (fielding coach), Champaka Ramanayake (fast bowling coach).

Uganda

Hamza Almuzahim (Captain), Davis Arinaitwe, Emmanuel Isaneez, Arthur Kyobe, Dennis Musali, Patrick Ochan, Jimmy Okello, Raymond Otim, Danniel Ruyange, Ronald Ssemanda, Emmanuel Nakaana, Charles Waiswa, Roger Mukasa, Mauneek Solanki.

USA

Dominic Audain (Captain), Sumon Bari, Romeno Deane, Anil Deopersaud, Akeem Dodson, Alexandrino Kirton, Dunae Nathaniel, Mrunal Patel, Nisarg Patel, Hemant Punoo, Abhimanyu Rajp, Kumar Ramsabad, Mohammad Rehman, Ravi Timbawala, Basil Butcher - Trainer/Phisio, Larry Gomes - Coach, Ashok Patel - Manager.

West Indies

Leon Johnson (Captain), Jason Mohammed, Richard Ramdeen, Gajanand Singh, Andre Fletcher, Nelon Pascal, Kemar Roach, Javon Searles, Sharmarh Brooks, Andre McCarthy, William Perkins, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Rishi Bachan, Roger Harper (Manager), Roderick Estwick (Coach), Phyllis Burnett (Physiotherapist).

Zimbabwe

Sean Williams (Captain), Gary Balance, Ronald Benade, Justice Chibhabha, Graeme Cremer, Ryan Higgins, Friday Kasteni, Tarisai Mahlunge, Prince Masvaure, Keagan Meth, Taurai Tapfumaneyi, Ian Nicolson, Donald Samunderu, Glen Querl, Walter Chawaguta - Coach, Dilip Chouhan - Team Manager, Amato Machikicho - Physiotherapist.

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