THE INAUGURAL Under 19 Women’s World Cup is just around the corner, with 16 countries set to battle it out in South Africa this month for the chance to be crowned the inaugural champion.

Ahead of the tournament, we here at Rookie Me Central will be previewing all the countries competing at the tournament, looking at their squads, their fixtures and how things might go for them.

In this preview, we are taking a look at New Zealand.

Senior level in recent times has seen the White Ferns drop off the pace a little with the top countries, so they will no doubt be keen to reverse that trend at this inaugural Under 19 World Cup.

And via a combination of experience in the squad and good group set up, they are in a great position to be able to do that.

With the group the Kiwis are in, finishing top two in the initial stage of the tournament should not be a challenge.

In a group with Indonesia, Ireland and the West Indies, second is realistically as low as they should finish in the group.

They should also realistically make the semi finals, but it remains to be seen whether the final is too much of a stretch for the White Ferns. It is not out of the realm of possibility that they can make the final, but they are a number of other strong countries in the tournament so it is too early to tell who will make the final.

Like many teams in the tournament, there are a few White Ferns who have some senior level experience.

Fran Jonas, Georgia Plimmer and Izzy Gaze were all members of the Silver Ferns squad that won bronze at the Commonwealth Games last year, while Jonas and Plimmer were also part of the squad that went to last year’s World Cup.

They have been forced to make a change to the quad already, with Louisa Kotkamp replacing the injured but previously named Breearne Illing.

New Zealand Squad

Izzy Sharp (c), Olivia Anderson, Anna Browning, Kate Chandler, Natasha Codyre, Isabella Gaze, Antonia Hamilton, Abigail Hotton, Fran Jonas, Louisa Kotkamp, Kayley Knight, Paige Loggenberg, Emma McLeod, Georgia Plimmer, Tash Wakelin

New Zealand Fixture

January 15 – Indonesia

January 17 – Ireland

January 19 – West Indies