The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced the schedule of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2016, which will be held across eight venues in four Bangladesh cities from 27 January to 14 February 2016.

Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka and Sylhet will share 48 matches between them during the 19-day tournament, which will open with the match between defending champion South Africa and host Bangladesh at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (ZACS) in Chittagong.

The tournament will culminate with the final at the iconic Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. All matches will be day fixtures and will start at 0930 local time. The Super League semi-finals and final will have reserve days.

For the first time in the history of this competition, ICC will produce live broadcast coverage of an unprecedented 20 matches. The matches which will be shown around the world by ICC broadcast partner, Star Sports and its licensees. include four from Chittagong, nine from Mirpur and seven from Fatullah. In the 2014 event in the UAE, Star Sports and its licensees had broadcast 11 matches, while 10 matches each were televised from the 2008, 2010 and 2012 events in Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia respectively. More details on broadcast coverage of the event will be announced in due course.

This increased broadcast coverage is a clear reflection in the enhanced profile of the event, which is billed as the platform for future stars. This claim can be substantiated by the fact that nine of the 10 current Test captains have previously played in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cups, while Pakistan’s One-Day International captain Azhar Ali participated in the 2002 tournament in New Zealand.

Announcing the schedule, ICC General Manager – Cricket, Geoff Allardice, said: “The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup an event which provides talented youngsters an early taste of international cricket in a global setting. Countless players have come through this event, and emerged shortly afterwards on to the international arena.

“It is at this tournament that the players also receive important education on topics such anti-doping and anti-corruption, which provides them a head start on the challenges that lie ahead for professional sportsmen.

“Bangladesh has staged a number of ICC events in the past and all these have been hugely successful because of the passionate and enthusiastic crowds as well as high quality playing facilities.”

According to the event format, the 16 sides have been equally divided into four groups of four each, with the top two from each group progressing to the Super League stage and the bottom two to feature in the Plate Championship.

Apart from the 10 Test playing countries, six Associate and Affiliate Member sides – Afghanistan, Canada, Fiji, Namibia, Nepal and Scotland – will also participate after winning the various regional qualifying events.

Reflecting on his time at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2006 in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim, said: “I played in the 2006 event and it prepared me for the international stage. So, when I went to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 the following year, I had a fairly good idea of what to expect.

“The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup is like a dress rehearsal for the senior level.  It is the first stepping stone for every international cricketer. You can actually get a reasonable picture of the future. The genuine articles, the ones that are going to proceed to the next level and beyond can be identified here if you take a good look.”

Previous winners

Groups

Warm-up matches

22 Jan – West Indies v Scotland, Fatullah; South Africa v Fiji, Fatullah Outer

23 Jan – Pakistan v Nepal, BKSP-1; Sri Lanka v New Zealand, BKSP-2; Afghanistan v Australia, BKSP-3; India v Canada, BKSP-4; England v Namibia, CDVs, Chittagong; Bangladesh v Zimbabwe, ZACS, Chittagong

24 Jan – South Africa v West Indies, Fatullah; Scotland v Fiji, Fatullah Outer

25 Jan – Afghanistan v New Zealand, BKSP-1; Sri Lanka v Nepal, BKSP-2; Australia v Canada, BKSP-3; Pakistan v India, BKSP-4; Zimbabwe v Namibia, CDVS, Chittagong; England v Bangladesh, ZACS, Chittagong

Tournament matches

Group matches

27 Jan – England v Fiji, CDVS, Chittagong; South Africa v Bangladesh*, ZACS, Chittagong

28 Jan – Australia v India*, Mirpur; New Zealand v Nepal, Fatullah; Pakistan v Afghanistan, SICS, Sylhet; Sri Lanka v Canada, SDVC, Sylhet

29 Jan – Zimbabwe v Fiji, CDVS, Chittagong; England v West Indies*, ZACS, Chittagong; Scotland v Namibia, Cox’s Bazar (main)

30 Jan – India v New Zealand*, Mirpur; Australia v Nepal, Fatullah; Sri Lanka v Afghanistan, SICS, Sylhet; Pakistan v Canada, SDVC, Sylhet

31 Jan – West Indies v Fiji, CDVS, Chittagong; England v Zimbabwe*, ZACS, Chittagong; Bangladesh v Scotland, Cox’s Bazar (main); South Africa v Namibia, Cox’s Bazar (second)

1 Feb – India v Nepal*, Mirpur; Australia v New Zealand, Fatullah; Afghanistan v Canada, SICS, Sylhet

2 Feb – West Indies v Zimbabwe*, ZACS, Chittagong; Bangladesh v Namibia, Cox’s Bazar (main); South Africa v Scotland, Cox’s Bazar (second)

3 Feb – Pakistan v Sri Lanka*, Mirpur

Plate Championship

4 Feb – Plater quarter-final 1 (AA3 v DD4), Cox’s Bazar (main); Plate quarter-final 3 (DD3 v AA4), Cox’s Bazar (second)

5 Feb – Plate quarter-final 2 (BB3 v CC4), Cox’s Bazar (main); Plate quarter-final 4 (CC3 v BB4), Cox’s Bazar (second)

7 Feb – Plate play/off semi 1 (loser PQF1 v loser PQF4), Cox’s Bazar (main)

8 Feb – Plate semi-final 1 (winner PQF1 v winner PQF4), Cox’s Bazar (main); Plate play/off 2 (loser PQF2 v loser PQF3), Cox’s Bazar (second)

9 Feb – Plate semi-final 2 (winner PQF2 v winner PQF3), Cox’s Bazar (second)

10 Feb – Plate play/off for 13th/14th positions (winner plate play/off semi-final 1 v winner plate play/off semi-final 2), Cox’s Bazar (main)

11 Feb – Plate play/off for 15th/16th positions (loser plate play/off semi-final 1 v loser plate play/off semi-final 2), Cox’s Bazar (second

12 Feb – Plate final (winner plate semi-final 1 v winner plate semi-final 2), Cox’s Bazar (main); plate play/off for 11th/ 12th positions (loser plate semi-final 1 v loser plate semi-final 2), Cox’s Bazar (second)

Super League

5 Feb – Super League quarter-final 1* (AA1 v DD2), Mirpur

6 Feb – Super League quarter-final 3* (DD1 v AA2), Fatullah

7 Feb – Super League quarter-final 4* (CC1 v BB2), Mirpur

8 Feb – Super League quarter-final 2* (BB1 v CC2), Fatullah

9 Feb – Super League semi-final 1* (winner Super League quarter-final 1 v winner Super League quarter-final 4), Mirpur; Super League play/off semi-final 1* (loser Super League quarter-final 1 v loser Super League quarter-final 4), Fatullah

10 Feb – Super League play/off semi-final 2* (loser Super League quarter-final 2 v loser Super League quarter-final 3), Fatullah

11 Feb – Super League semi-final 2* (winner Super League quarter-final 2 v winner Super League quarter-final 3), Mirpur; Super League play/off 7th/8th positions* (loser Super League play/off semi-final 1 v loser Super League play/off semi-final 2), Fatullah

12 Feb – Super League play/off for 5th/6th positions* (winner Super League play/off semi-final 1 v winner Super League play/off Super League semi-final 2), Fatullah

13 Feb – Super League play/off four 3rd/4th positions* (loser Super League semi-final 1 v loser Super League semi-final 2), Fatullah

14 Feb – Super League final* (winner Super League semi-final 1 v winner Super League semi-final 2), Mirpur

*Denotes matches that will be broadcast live