ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier

ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier (formerly ICC Africa Under-19 Championships) are a series of regular cricket tournaments organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for under-19 teams from its African member nations. It is the regional qualifier for the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier
AdministratorInternational Cricket Council
Format50-over
First edition2001
Latest edition2023
Tournament formatRound-robin
Current champion Namibia
Most successful Namibia (7 titles)

The initial tournament was staged in 2001 but did not return until 2007. During the interim years a joint competition with the East Asia-Pacific Cricket Council was held.[1] A second division was added in 2009 providing affiliate nations with a chance to participate. After this first edition, two teams were promoted, but since then only one team has moved between divisions. The two divisions are played at different times and in different locations.

The current champions are Namibia, who won the 2023 tournament in Tanzania to qualify for the 2024 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka Namibia have won seven titles, the most of any team, while Uganda have won twice and Kenya and Nigeria once each.

Under-19 World Cup Qualification History

One of the key aspects of the African Under-19 Championships is its role in Under-19 World Cup Qualification. Before the introduction of the championship only Kenya and Namibia took part in the World Cup.[2][3] However, aided by the development of international cricket during the late 90s and 2000s the possibility of holding the first African regional qualifier arose in 2001. Of the five associate nations at that time,[4] Kenya already had automatic qualification for the 2002 U-19 World Cup due to their ODI status.[5] As a result, the highest finisher in the inaugural competition besides Kenya would also qualify. Namibia finished in first place and so earned themselves the final World Cup space.[6]

For the following two U-19 World Cups, the African Cricket Association and the East Asia-Pacific Cricket Council organised joint qualification competitions from which two teams would progress.[1] In the 2003 competition, Uganda qualified alongside EAP side Papua New Guinea for the 2004 U-19 World Cup but in 2005 two African nations, Namibia and Uganda made it through to the 2006 finals.[7][8]

In 2007, the two councils once again organised separate competitions, meaning only one team would qualify from the African Championships.[9] Namibia beat Kenya in the final to go through as the representative of African associate nations.[10]

The entire qualification system for the U-19 World Cup was revamped in 2009. Whilst regionally, a second division of African affiliate nations was organised, including the chance of promotion,[11] a new international qualification tournament was introduced by the ICC. This competition saw ten teams, two from each of the five cricketing regions, fighting for the six remaining places in the World Cup finals.[12] The winners and runners-up of the 2009 Africa U-19 Championships, Uganda and Sierra Leone, made it through to the U-19 World Qualifiers, but neither finished high enough to progress to final. The Sierra Leone team hit the headlines when they were denied visas and so had no chance to compete.[13]

The same system continued for the 2012 U-19 World Cup qualification, though the regional divisions were played a year earlier than usual, in 2010. Namibia and Kenya finished first and second in Division One earning them places in the U-19 World Cup Qualifier, held the next year.[14]

Tournament results

Division One

Year Host(s) Venue(s) Final
Winner Result Runner-up
2001  Uganda Kampala  Namibia
+0.981 NRR
Namibia won on net run rate
table
East and Central Africa
+0.287 NRR
2003
(with EAP)
 Namibia Windhoek  Papua New Guinea
9/193 (50 overs)
Papua New Guinea won by 53 runs
scorecard
 Uganda
140 all out
2005
(with EAP)
 South Africa Benoni  Namibia
140/7 (43.3 overs)
Namibia won by 3 wickets
scorecard
 Uganda
139 (47.3 overs)
2007  South Africa Benoni  Namibia
256/7 (50 overs)
Namibia won by 39 runs
scorecard
 Kenya
217 all out (45.2 overs)
2009  Zambia Lusaka  Uganda
12 points
Uganda won on points
table
 Sierra Leone
10 points
2010  Namibia Windhoek  Namibia
14 points
Namibia won on points
table
 Kenya
10 points
2013  Uganda Entebbe and Kampala  Namibia
173 (47.2 overs)
Namibia won by 52 runs
scorecard
 Kenya
121 (40 overs)
2015  Tanzania Dar es Salaam  Namibia
8 points
Namibia won on points
fixtures
 Uganda
6 points
2017  Kenya Nairobi  Kenya
10 points
Kenya won on net run rate  Uganda
10 points
2019  Namibia Windhoek  Nigeria
10 points
Nigeria won on points  Namibia
8 points
2021  Rwanda Kigali  Uganda
6 points
Uganda won on net run rate
table
 Namibia
6 points
2023  Tanzania Dar es Salaam  Namibia
9 points
Namibia won on points
table
 Kenya
7 points

Division Two

Year Host(s) Venue(s) Final
Winner Result Runner-up
2009  Mozambique Maputo  Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone won on points
 Ghana
2010  Eswatini Big Bend  Nigeria
8 points
Nigeria won on points
table
 Rwanda
6 points
2013  South Africa Benoni  Ghana
Ghana won on points
 Tanzania
2014  Zambia Lusaka  Tanzania
10 points
Tanzania won on points
table
 Rwanda
6 points
2016  South Africa Benoni  Ghana
12 points
Ghana won on points
table
 Botswana
8 points
2018  South Africa Potchefstroom  Nigeria
242/9 (50 overs)
Nigeria won by 137 runs
scorecard
 Sierra Leone
105 (31 overs)
2022  Nigeria Abuja  Kenya
90 (35 overs)
Kenya won by 11 runs  Nigeria
79 (20.4 overs)

Participating teams (Division One)

Legend
  • 1st – Champions
  • 2nd – Runners-up
  • 3rd – Third place
  • Q – Qualified
  • * – Combined tournament with EAP members (not included in this table)
  •     – Hosts
Team Uganda
2001
Namibia
2003*
South Africa
2005*
South Africa
2007
Zambia
2009
Namibia
2010
Uganda
2013
Tanzania
2015
Kenya
2017
Namibia
2019
Rwanda
2021
Tanzania
2023
Total
 Botswana 4th6th3rd4th6th4th6
 Ghana 6th3rd2
 Kenya 4th3rd3rd2nd5th2nd2nd3rd1st5th2nd11
 Namibia 1st4th1st1st3rd1st1st1st[lower-alpha 1]2nd2nd1st11
 Nigeria 6th8th8th8th7th5th5th1st5th6th10
 Rwanda 4th1
 Sierra Leone 2nd6th8th4th4th5
 Tanzania 7th5th7th7th8th7th4th6th3rd5th10
 Uganda 3rd2nd2nd3rd1st5th3rd2nd2nd3rd1st3rd12
Defunct teams
East and Central Africa 2ndNo longer an ICC member1
West Africa 5thNo longer an ICC member1
 Zambia 5th6th5th4th4th6thN/A6

Records

This section includes performances by African teams and players at the 2003 and 2005 combined Africa/EAP tournaments.

Highest team scores
Lowest team scores
Highest individual scores
Best bowling figures

See also

Notes

  1. Namibia had already qualified for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and hence didn't need to play in the qualifiers.

References

  1. Other Matches played by Namibia Under-19s Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine cricketarchive.com 17 November 2010
  2. ICC Youth World Cup 2000 cricketeurope4.net 17 November 2010
  3. Under-19 World Cup 2002 cricketeurope4.net 17 November 2010
  4. The East and Central Africa cricket team and West Africa cricket team had not yet split into their separate states at this point
  5. Africa: Under 19 titles start today espncricinfo.com 17 November 2010
  6. Africa Under-19 Championship 2000/2001 Points Table cricketarchive.com 17 November 2010
  7. ICC Under 19 World Cup 2004 cricketeurope4.net 17 November 2010
  8. ICC Under 19 World Cup 2006 cricketeurope4.net 17 November 2010
  9. Namibia announce Under-19 squad espncricinfo.com 17 November 2010
  10. Africa Under 19 Championships 2007 cricketeurope4.net 17 November 2010
  11. News Flash Africa February 2009 Archived 29 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine icc-cricket.yahoo.net 17 November 2010
  12. Under 19 World Cup Qualifier details cricketeurope4.net 17 November 2010
  13. Visa issues end Sierra Leone's World Cup dream espncricinfo.com 17 November 2010
  14. Lotter, Vijayakumar bag top honours Archived 24 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine icc-cricket.yahoo.net 17 November 2010
  15. Nigeria Under-19s v Zambia Under-19s, Africa Under-19 Championship 2007 (5th Place Play-off Semi-Final) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  16. Fiji Under-19s v Kenya Under-19s, Africa/East Asia-Pacific Under-19 Championship 2003/04 (Group B) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  17. Uganda Under-19s v West Africa Under-19s, Africa Under-19 Championship 2000/01 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  18. Namibia Under-19s v Zambia Under-19s, ICC Africa Under-19 Division One Championship 2013 (Pool A) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  19. Botswana Under-19s v Namibia Under-19s, ICC Africa Under-19 Championship 2014/15 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  20. Nigeria Under-19s vs Uganda Under-19s, Africa Under-19 Championship 2007 (Pool 2) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  21. Tanzania Under-19s v Zambia Under-19s, Africa Under-19 Championship 2010 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  22. Kenya Under-19s v Nigeria Under-19s, ICC Africa Under-19 Division One Championship 2013 (Pool B) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  23. Botswana Under-19s v Nigeria Under-19s, Africa Under-19 Championship 2007 (Pool 2) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  24. Namibia Under-19s v Sierra Leone Under-19s, Africa Under-19 Championship 2010 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  25. Botswana Under-19s v Uganda Under-19, ICC Africa Under-19 Championship 2014/15 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  26. Fiji Under-19s v Tanzania Under-19s, Africa/East Asia-Pacific Under-19 Championship 2005 (Pool 2) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  27. Botswana Under-19s v Uganda Under-19, ICC Africa Under-19 Championship 2014/15 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  28. Tanzania Under-19s v Uganda Under-19s, Africa Under-19 Championship 2007 (Pool 2) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
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