Photo Credit: New Zealand Cricket
New Zealand have successfully booked their ticket to the 2024 ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup to be held in Sri Lanka.
Their exceptional display in the East Asia Pacific Qualifiers, hosted in Darwin, Australia, saw the team win all six fixtures in convincing fashion.
NZC High Performance Talent & Pathways Coach, Paul Wiseman, commended the team’s performance over an action-packed eight days.
“It’s really nice to have the qualifiers ticked off, and now be able to look ahead to the World Cup,” said Wiseman.
“For the boys to stand up like they did in every game was a testament to their skill level, and how they came together in a short space of time,” Wiseman concluded.
Otago leg-spinner Zac Cumming was the tournament’s leading wicket-taker (14 wickets), and 16-year-old Tom Jones from Auckland was the top run-scorer (283 runs).
Eleven (11) teams automatically qualified for the event as the best-placed Full Member nations from the previous event in 2022, namely; Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
New Zealand were required to qualify for the World Cup after opting out of the 2022 tournament to protect the well-being of young players, given the stringent MIQ regulations they would have been required to undergo upon their return.
The squad will reconvene in July for a training camp, before playing internal warm-up games in October.
The final World Cup squad will be selected later in the year following the National Men’s U19 Tournament.
For all of New Zealand U19’s scorecards and statistics from the 2023 EAP Qualifiers, click here.
