HISTORY is set to take place in South Africa later today with the start of the very first Under 19 Women’s Cricket World Cup.

In all 16 teams are set to battle it out for the first ever title, with many keen to make the opportunity of a very rare chance to compete at a World Cup while others are keen for the silverware and that history. The 16 teams have initially been split into four groups, which will then progress onto a Super 6s stage (with only the bottom team in each group eliminated), and then onto the finals.

There are so many different kinds of countries at this World Cup that are at different stages in their cricket journey, so will have very different goals.

For some countries, they will be relishing in the opportunity to be at a World Cup. Countries like the USA, Scotland, UAE, Rwanda and Indonesia are the minnows of world cricket, so never get the opportunity (if not very rarely) to compete at tournaments like this.

Other countries like Ireland and Zimbabwe are in transition from minnow status to regular top competitor, so will be keen to make a statement and prove why they belong in the top echelons of world cricket.

There are countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the West Indies who are in the top rungs of world cricket but at the bottom of that top rung, and countries like Pakistan and South Africa, who are in the middle tier of that top rung and trying to push to be one of those top countries.

Then, there’s the top countries. Australia, England, India and New Zealand have all been the strongest countries at some stage recently, so do not want to change that any time soon. None of that matters in reality. It is not senior level, and there really is no precedence yet at this level for the world order of top cricketing nations.

As much as anyone can try and make predictions based on a country’s results at senior level, the reality is that all the teams are completely different, not all countries have played regular series’ at Under 19 level before and so there really is a level of uncertainty heading into this tournament about what to truly expect.

If warm-up matches are anything to go by, there may be a few surprises in store at this tournament, but we will all find out soon enough.

Squads and Team Previews

Group A

Australia

Bangladesh

Sri Lanka

USA

Group B

England

Pakistan

Rwanda

Zimbabwe

Group C

Ireland

Indonesia

New Zealand

West Indies

Group D

India

Scotland

South Africa

UAE

Opening Day of Action

10am local (7pm AEDT) – Australia vs Bangladesh and UAE vs Scotland

1:45pm local (10:45pm AEDT) – South Africa vs India and Sri Lanka vs USA