Predicting eventual champions in any sporting team event is not that easy unless, of course, one is familiar with the status of the competitors in action. The task is even more cumbersome when it comes to discussing age-group cricket at the global level because continuity from the competing individual’s perspective over a longer period is not possible given the age restriction.

In fact, at best it is just a part of a chain that actually develops from the grassroots level. The whole process, at times, can be tedious for those acting as taskmasters. There are countless stories over the years of teenagers not even maturing to the pinnacle of under-19 cricket because of social problems which are generally related to families not too keen on backing them.

The history of the ICC Under-19 World Cup dates back only as far as 1988. The idea behind staging an international competition for the young guns came from Graham Halbish, the general manager who later became chief executive of the Australian Cricket Board. The inaugural tournament, a part of Australia’s bicentennial celebrations, was officially known as the Youth World Cup and competed in by seven Test-playing nations of that era — hosts Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, plus a combined ICC Associates team.

The ICC Under-19 World Cup, which kicks off from Jan 13 in New Zealand, has over the years played a big role in unearthing fine cricketing talent

Appropriately enough, Australia were the title winners, defeating Pakistan in the final at the picturesque Adelaide Oval. Two of the most prominent members of that Pakistan team were future Test stars Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed, while there were others who became household names in the years that went by, including future senior team leaders of the teams they represented. Among them were Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Lee Germon,

Sanath Jayasuriya and the West Indies trio of Brian Lara, Jimmy Adams and Ridley Jacobs.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), for reasons best known to itself, took as long as 10 years to recognise the importance of youngsters playing the game at the universal level. It finally decided to institute an Under-19 World Cup while stamping it as a biennial competition from 1998 onwards.

The first such World Cup was hosted by South Africa. It was an expanded edition of the World Cup which included the nine Test-playing nations and seven qualifiers, namely, Bangladesh — who were eventually awarded Test status in June 2000 — Scotland, Ireland, Kenya, Namibia, Denmark and Papua New Guinea. The format also underwent notable changes which remain intact to this day with teams divided into four groups, named after legends of the sport Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar and Colin Cowdrey. The two top sides from each pool qualified for the Super League and the rest played for pride in the Plate Championship.

England, who have yet to win the senior 50-over world title, emerged the inaugural Under-19 Cricket World Cup champions after getting the better of New Zealand in the Super League final.

From Pakistan’s point of view that tournament threw up future stars such as Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and, remarkably, the Lahore-born Imran Tahir who later switched over to represent South Africa at the senior level. Among other notable players from that event to excel in topflight cricket were Chris Gayle — the event’s leading run-getter with 364 — and Graeme Swann.

Sri Lanka hosted the new millennium’s maiden World Cup, which was also the first to be held in Asia. The nine Test nations were joined by qualifiers Bangladesh, Ireland, the Netherlands, Kenya, Namibia, Nepal and the Americas Region. But it turned out be a heartbreaking moment for the hosts as India, inspired by player-of-the-tournament Yuvraj Singh, upstaged them to become the world champions, while minnows Nepal were the first non-Test country to make it as far as the quarter-finals.

South Africa, the Plate title winners, owed a lot to their future Test leader Graeme Smith since the tall left-handed opener topped the competition’s batting aggregates with 348 runs.

Smith was not alone to play at the senior level later on as the event also provided first glimpses of the Aussie trio of Mitchell Johnson, Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum, Ian Bell whose future England teammate Jonathan Trott played for his native South Africa, while the Pakistan side included Imran Nazir, Faisal Iqbal and Mohammad Sami.

There were six qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup, which was played in New Zealand where their Trans-Tasman rivals Australia became the first to lift the crown twice, after Bangladesh were elevated to the top tier of international cricket.

Azhar Ali and Umar Gul were the future Pakistan stars to be in action in that event along with South Africa’s run-machine Hashim Amla, who played some part in helping his country to the Super League title-decider, and West Indian all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy as well as India’s Irfan Pathan.

Pakistan’s long wait for a global trophy at this level finally came to an end in 2004 on Bangladeshi soil when Khalid Latif skippered them to glory as the Green Shirts overpowered the West Indies by 25 runs in the Super League final at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.

Canada, Kenya, Scotland, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Nepal qualified for the tournament, which also provided a truly stunning result in the Plate Championship final. The Bangladeshis, to their sheer delight, grabbed an eight-wicket success against the Australians.

Shikhar Dhawan, now an integral member of the Indian team, was declared the player-of-the-tournament. The left-hander amassed 505 runs. Other big names competing then were Dhawan’s compatriot Suresh Raina, England’s all-time highest Test run-scorer Alastair Cook, Sri Lankan Angelo Mathews, Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz and Vernon Philander of South Africa, while current England limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan then played for the country of his birth, Ireland.

Sarfraz Ahmed, the present Pakistan captain in all formats of the game, was at the helm when his nation retained its title in Sri Lanka with a thrilling 38-run triumph in the final against arch-rivals India at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in February 2006.

The deciding clash saw Pakistan defend a modest total of 109 quite spectacularly by bowling out the Indians for just 71 in 18.5 overs. Anwar Ali was their game-changer with figures of 5-35 with fellow seamers Akhtar Ayub (3 wickets) and Jamshed Ahmed (2 wickets) lending excellent support.

The qualifiers to compete in that event were Ireland, Scotland, Namibia, Nepal, the United States of America and U-19 World Cup debutants Uganda, while the player-of-the-tournament happened to be Cheteshwar Pujara, currently a vital cog in India’s Test side. Prominent future stars were Pujara’s compatriots Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja as well as Bangladesh’s talisman Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim, England’s Moeen Ali, Australia’s David Warner and New Zealanders Martin Guptill and Tim Southee.

Malaysia, who created history by being chosen as the first non-Test country to stage the Under-19 World Cup in 2008, were joined by Ireland, Bermuda, Nepal, Namibia and Papua New Guinea as the qualifiers.

That tournament was won by the Virat Kohli-led India, who won a rain-disrupted final against South Africa — under the Duckworth-Lewis method — by 12 runs at Kinrara Academy Oval on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

Southee clinched the player-of-the-tournament honours while among his New Zealand teammates to feature in the event were current skipper Kane Williamson, Trent Boult and Corey Anderson. Also playing then were current Australian captain Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood and Phil Hughes (the opener who died a tragic death in 2014 after being struck on the head during a domestic first-class match), Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal and Thisara Perera, while Pakistan’s main representatives were Umar Akmal and Junaid Khan.

Pakistan were the losing finalists by 25 runs when Australia lifted the title for the third time with New Zealand playing hosts in 2010. Among the qualifying teams were Afghanistan, Ireland, Hong Kong, Canada, Papua New Guinea and USA.

Joe Root, the current England Test captain, his teammates Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler featured in that competition along with the present West Indies skipper Jason Holder and the South African wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.

India emulated the Aussies by becoming champions for the third time by sealing a clinical six-wicket win over hosts Australia in the final at Townsville’s Tony Ireland Stadium. Qualifiers Afghanistan showed their true mettle by reaching the Plate final in which they were defeated by Sri Lanka while the other nations to qualify for the World Cup in 2012 were Ireland, Scotland, Nepal, Namibia and Papua New Guinea.

The United Arab Emirates, by virtue of being the hosts, earned automatic qualification — just like Malaysia in 2008 — when the World Cup was organised there in 2014 with Afghanistan, Scotland, Namibia, Canada and Papua New Guinea joining them as the qualifiers from their respective regions.

South Africa, inspired by the deeds of current fast-bowling spearhead Kagiso Rabada and skipper Aiden Markram (declared player-of-the-tournament) ended their long drought of not winning a world title at any level by going through the tournament undefeated. They were too good for the Sami Aslam-led Pakistan in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Bangladesh clinched the Plate trophy by defeating New Zealand.

The year 2016 undoubtedly belonged to the West Indies. Their senior men’s and women’s teams were so inspired by the feat of Shimron Hetmyer’s charges in winning their maiden Under-19 World Cup that they went to complete an unprecedented grand double by winning at the ICC World Twenty20 titles in India.

However, even before the first ball was delivered, the World Cup was shrouded into controversy as Australia decided to skip the tournament in Bangladesh altogether citing security reasons.

Ireland, who hadn’t qualified initially, were drafted into the competition at the 11th hour to join fellow qualifiers Afghanistan, Scotland, Namibia, Canada, Nepal and Fiji. There was a huge shock when holders South Africa were knocked out at the group stage after losing to hosts Bangladesh and Namibia. India were among the favourites but lost by five wickets in the final at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

As for Pakistan, they were humbled by the eventual champions at the quarter-final phase after team manager Zakir Khan controversially forced them to bat first in conditions conducive for bowling despite head coach Mohammad Masroor already having decided the night before that with rain hovering around, and his charges would field if they won the toss. They did win the toss but lost the battle by five wickets.

The prodigiously talented leg-spinner Shadab Khan was one of Pakistan’s emerging stars in that tournament.

Now the focus shifts to New Zealand, who are playing hosts for the third time, where the 2018 edition is being held from Jan 13 to Feb 3 at seven different venues of four cities — Christchurch, Whangarei, Tauranga and Queenstown.

Who knows which future superstars this edition will throw up.

The writer is a member of staff

POOLS

Group ‘A’ New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa, Kenya.
Group ‘B’ Australia, India, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea.
Group ‘C’ England, Bangladesh, Canada, Namibia.
Group ‘D’ Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Ireland.

GROUP-STAGE SCHEDULE

Jan 13: Pakistan vs Afghanistan (Cobham Oval, Whangarei); New Zealand vs West Indies (Bay Oval, Tauranga); Zimbabwe vs Papua New Guinea (Lincoln Oval 3, Christchurch); Bangladesh vs Namibia (Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Christchurch).

Jan 14: Sri Lanka vs Ireland (Cobham Oval, Whangarei); Australia vs India (Bay Oval, Tauranga); South Africa vs Kenya (Lincoln Oval 3, Christchurch).

Jan 15: Bangladesh vs Canada (Bert Sutcliffe, Christchurch); England vs Namibia (John Davies, Queenstown).

Jan 16: Pakistan vs Ireland (Cobham Oval, Whangarei); India vs Papua New Guinea (Bay Oval, Tauranga).

Jan 17: New Zealand vs Kenya (Hagley Oval, Christchurch); Australia vs Zimbabwe (Lincoln 3 Oval, Christchurch); West Indies vs South Africa (Bay Oval, Tauranga); Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan, Cobham Oval, Whangarei).

Jan 18: England vs Bangladesh (John Davies Oval, Queenstown); Namibia vs Canada (Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Christchurch).

Jan 19: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka (Cobham Oval, Whangarei); Australia vs Papua New Guinea (Lincoln Oval 3, Christchurch); India vs Zimbabwe (Bay Oval, Tauranga).

Jan 20: New Zealand vs South Africa (Bay Oval, Tauranga); England vs Canada (John Davies Oval, Queenstown); West Indies vs Kenya (Lincoln Oval 3, Christchurch); Afghanistan vs Ireland (Cobham Oval, Whangarei).

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 7th, 2017