Malaysia to host 2008 U19 cricket World Cup

Dubai, May 1 (UNI) Malaysia will become the first Associate Member country to host the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup when it stages the sport's biggest junior tournament in February 2008.

As well as awarding the 2008 event to Malaysia in its meeting in Dubai yesterday, the ICC Board during its yesterday's meeting, also handed the right to host the 2010 event to Kenya, the 2012 event to Canada and 2014 to United Arab Emirates.

''The ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup has a rich history of showcasing the stars of the future from West Indies captain Brian Lara in 1988 to India's Piyush Chawla in 2006 and it is very exciting that the next four events will all take place in Associate Member countries,'' ICC President Ehsan Mani said in a statement today.

Malaysia has a proven track record of staging international cricket events. It had successfully staged cricket during the 1998 Commonwealth Games and had previously hosted the ICC Trophy and the ICC World Cup Qualifying Series Division Two.

Kenya had also hosted an ICC Trophy and has extensive experience of hosting events involving full members including the ICC Knock-out in 2000.

''Canada will also be an able host having staged a successful ICC Trophy in 2001 while United Arab Emirates will have three magnificent stadiums in place by 2014 as well as the facilities of the ICC Global Cricket Academy,'' Mr Mani said.

The UAE has also been awarded the right to host the 12-team ICC World Cup Qualifier (formerly ICC Trophy) in 2009. Four years later the same event will be hosted by Scotland.

All of these Members had produced hosting submissions that comply with similar strict criteria to that in place for the ICC Cricket World Cup.

''That so many Members have had the commitment and support to satisfy these criteria is testament to the increasing profile of the sport beyond its traditional boundaries,'' the ICC President said.

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