Corey Anderson named U19 World Cup 2018 ambassador
DUBAI: With 100 days to go before the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2018, the International Cricket Council has announced New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson as the event ambassador for the 16-team tournament.
The 12th edition of the tournament — third in New Zealand — will run from January 13 to February 3 across four cities and seven venues.Anderson, who scored 324 runs in 10 matches with four half-centuries across the two editions of the tournament, has been representing New Zealand regularly in all three formats of the game.
The 26-year-old all-rounder made his international debut in 2012 and to date has scored 683 runs and bagged 16 wickets in 13 Tests, accumulated 1109 runs and grabbed 60 wickets in 49 ODIs, and has 432 runs and 14 wickets in 29 T20Is.
Current Test captains Virat Kohli of India, Steve Smith of Australia, Joe Root of England, Kane Williamson of New Zealand, Sarfraz Ahmed of Pakistan and Dinesh Chandimal of Sri Lanka have all figured in Under-19 World Cups.Sarfraz’s and Kohli’s leadership abilities were first witnessed in this tournament as they led their sides to victory in the 2006 (Sri Lanka) and 2008 (Malaysia) editions, respectively.
The 10 Test playing sides (prior to Afghanistan and Ireland’s recent inclusion) along with Namibia (best finishing non-Test playing side from the 2016 event in Bangladesh) have gained automatic qualification to the 2018 tournament. The 11 sides have been joined by five regional qualifiers - Kenya (Africa), Canada (Americas), Papua New Guinea (East Asia Pacific), Afghanistan (Asia) and Ireland (Europe).