ICC U19 World Cup - Winners and performers of 9 editions so far

2010 – New Zealand | Winner – Australia

Pakistan v Australia – ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Super League Final

After a gap of eight years, the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup returned to New Zealand and once again Australia won the title, its third overall. The tournament was staged from 15-30 January and in the final at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln, Mitchell Marsh’s side outsmarted Azeem Ghumman’s Pakistan by 25 runs.

Chasing a modest target of 207, which revolved around Kane Richardson’s 44, Tim Armstrong’s 37, Jason Floros’ 35 and Alex Keath’s 25, Pakistan was sent packing for 182 in 46.4. Man of the match Josh Hazlewood returned figures of 8.4-1-30-4 and Luke Doran had figures of 10-1-32-3. For Pakistan, Ghumman scored 41, Ahmed Shehzad 36, Babar Azam 28 and Rameez Aziz 23.

In the Plate Championship final, Bangladesh defeated Ireland by 175 runs after the winners scored 307-8 and then bowled out the European side for 112 in 38.4 overs.

South Africa batsman Dominic Hendricks was declared the player of the tournament for finishing as the top scorer with 391 runs at an average of just under 98. He was followed by the West Indies’ Kraigg Brathwaite 335 and Pakistan’s Babar Azam 298.

The bowling honours went to PNG’s Raymond Haoda who took 15 wickets while Sri Lanka’s Chathura Peiris, Australia’s Josh Hazlewood, Graham Hune of South Africa and England’s Nathan Buck shared 13 wickets apiece.

Apart from the 10 Full Members, the event also featured Afghanistan, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and the United States of America.

Prominent players to graduate from this event to international cricket include Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood (both Australia), Anamul Haque, Mominul Haque and Abul Hasan (all Bangladesh), Jos Buttler, Joe Root and Ben Stokes (England), Jaydev Unadkat (India), Paul Stirling and George Dockrell (both Ireland), Corey Anderson, Doug Bracewell, James Neesham (all New Zealand), Ahmed Shehzad, Hammad Azam, Raza Hasan (all Pakistan), Kithuruwan Vithanage (Sri Lanka), Kraigg Brathwaite, Jason Holder (both West Indies), Tendai Chatara and Tinotenda Mutombodzi (both Zimbabwe).

2012 – Australia | Winner – India

ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012 Final – Australia v India

Australia hosted the ICC U19 CWC for the first time since the inaugural edition as India became only the second country to win the title three times, after Australia. The tournament was staged from 11-26 August, and in the final at the Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville, India beat the host by six wickets.

After winning the toss and electing to field first, India restricted Australia to 225-8. Home captain Will Bosisto scored an unbeaten 87, while Sandeep Sharma took 4-54 from 10 overs for India. In reply, India captain and man of the match Unmukt Chand posted a fluent, unbeaten 111 to take his side to victory alongside Smit Patel, who remained undefeated on 62 and put on a match-winning, unbroken 130-run stand for the fifth wicket with Chand from 23.2 overs.

In the Plate Championship final, Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan by seven wickets. Afghanistan posted 194-9 from its allotted 50 overs after winning the toss. Sri Lanka’s chase was powered by man of the match Niroshan Dickwella, who scored an unbeaten 76.

Australia captain Will Bosisto, who had the highest batting average of the 2012 edition (276, thanks to as many runs from six innings with just one dismissal) was named the player of the tournament. Anamul Haque of Bangladesh was the highest run-getter with 365, with Babar Azam of Pakistan in second place with 287.

Reece Topley of England was the highest wicket-taker, with 19 scalps from six matches. Lahiru Madushanka of Sri Lanka followed him in the bowling charts with 15 wickets, ahead of Nepal’s Rahul Vishwakarma, who had 13 in his kitty.

Apart from the 10 Full Member nations, the event also featured Afghanistan, Ireland, Namibia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Scotland, who all qualified through the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Ireland 2011 to complete the 16-team line-up.

Among those who featured in this tournament before going on to play international cricket were Javed Ahmadi, Aftab Alam, Shabir Noori, Najibullah Zadran, Noor-ul-Haq (all Afghanistan), Anamul Haque (Bangladesh), George Dockrell (Ireland), Ehsan Adil (Pakistan), Ish Sodhi (New Zealand), Quinton de Kock (South Africa) and Kraigg Brathwaite (West Indies).