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.