08 January,2016 06:15 PM IST | | A Correspondent
With the under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 just around the corner, here's the complete list of players and coaches taking part in the biennial event
The International Cricket Council (ICC) opn Friday announced that all 16 sides for the under-19 Cricket World Cup 2016 have been confirmed.
The 11th edition of the tournament will be held across eight venues in four Bangladesh cities from January 27 to February 14, 2016, and will feature nine Test playing countries as well as seven Associate and Affiliate Members -- Afghanistan, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, Namibia, Nepal and Scotland.
The tournament will kick off with the match between defending champion South Africa and host nation Bangladesh at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium (ZACS) in Chittagong and will culminate with the final at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
The squad-list reveals that as many as 18 cricketers will take part in their second successive ICC U19 World Cup.
The Bangladesh squad has five players -- Mehidy Hassan Miraz, who has been retained as captain, Najmul Hossain Chanto, Joyraj Sheik Imon, Zakir Hasan and Saeed Sarker -- who played in the previous event in the United Arab Emirates, where the side finished ninth.
Afghanistan has retained four players from the 2014 tournament where the Asian side finished seventh. The four players are Ihsanullah Janat, captain for this month's event, Muslim Musa, Waheed Shafaq and Zia-ur-Rehman Akbar.
India, which has won the tournament thrice, has named three players who were part of the squad that finished fifth in the last edition in the UAE. These players are Sarfraz Khan, Ricky Bhui and Avesh Khan.
Canada, New Zealand and West Indies have retained one player each from their 2014 campaigns. Abraash Khan of Canada, Shimron Hetmyer of the West Indies and New Zealand's Josh Finnie will be returning to Bangladesh as captains of their sides. Canada achieved 15th position, the West Indies claimed sixth position and New Zealand finished 10th in 2014.
Namibia has retained two players from the side which finished 14th. Zane Green will return as captain, while SJ loftie-Eaton is the other survivor from the UAE event.
Ryan Brown is the only Scotland player who will be appearing in his second successive ICC U19 Cricket World Cup. Brown played just one match last time and bagged two wickets for 18 runs.
Defending champion South Africa, like England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, will be appearing with a completely fresh set of players, though Dayyaan Galiem who will appear in this edition, was named in South Africa's original squad for the 2014 event but was later withdrawn.
Both Ireland and Nepal are returning to the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup after missing out on the 2014 event. It will be their seventh appearances, respectively. Coincidentally, both the sides have retained 12 players each from the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which was won by Nepal with Ireland finishing second.
Fiji will be making its maiden appearance in Bangladesh after winning the East Asia-Pacific U19 Cricket Trophy in Blenheim, New Zealand, from 24-28 February. It has retained 13 players from that successful campaign.
