The 1998 MTN ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international

limited-overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...

tournament played in South Africa from 11 January to 1 February 1998. Sponsored by the

MTN Group MTN Group Limited (formerly M-Cell) is a South Africa, South African multinational corporation and mobile telecommunications provider. Its head office is in Johannesburg. MTN is among the List of mobile network operators, largest mobile netwo ...

, it was the second edition of the

Under-19 Cricket World Cup The Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup is an international cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council contested by national under-19 teams. First contested in 1988, as the Youth Cricket World Cup, it was not staged aga ...

, coming ten years after the inaugural tournament in 1988, and the first to be held in South Africa. Sixteen teams participated at the 1998 World Cup, up from only eight at the previous edition. After an initial group stage, the top eight teams played off in a

super league Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

to decide the tournament champions, with the non-qualifiers playing a separate "plate" competition. The tournament was won by

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, which defeated

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the final to win its first and only title. New Zealand have failed to reach the final since then, whilst England have qualified for the final in 2022 but lost to India. Matches were held at venues around the country, though primarily in the interior, with the main final held at

Wanderers Stadium The Wanderers Stadium, also known as the Bullring due to its intimidating atmosphere, is a cricket stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa. Test, One Day and First class cricket matches are ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. West Indian batsman

Chris Gayle Christopher Henry Gayle (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricket team, Jamaican cricketer who has played international cricket for the West Indies cricket team, West Indies from 1999 to 2021. Nicknamed "The Universe Boss", Gayle is wide ...

led the tournament in runs, while his teammate

Ramnaresh Sarwan Ramnaresh Ronnie Sarwan (born 23 June 1980) is a former Guyanese cricketer who played as a batsman. He is a former member and former captain of the West Indies cricket team, in all formats. Sarwan went on to average over 40 in both the test ...

and Zimbabwe's

Mluleki Nkala Mluleki Luke Nkala (born 1 April 1981) is a Zimbabwean international cricketer. He took the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar with his second ball in senior international cricket in 1999. He also took five wickets against England in a test match in Nott ...

were the joint leading wicket-takers.Bowling in MTN Under-19s World Cup 1997/98 (ordered by wickets)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 10 November 2015.

Teams and qualification

The twelve ICC members that had qualified their senior teams for the 1999 World Cup also automatically qualified their under-19 teams for the 1998 Under-19 World Cup. Of those teams, nine were Test-playing countries and three were ICC associate members.John Stern
"MTN Under-19 World Cup"
– ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'', 1998. Retrieved from ESPNcricinfo, 10 November 2015. * * * * * * * * * * * * The other four teams were invited to the tournament based on criteria set by the ICC – unlike at later editions, only one regional qualification tournament, the 1997 Youth Asia Cup, was played. * * * *

Pool stage

Pool A

Pool A was known as the Bradman Pool, after former Australian batsman Sir

Donald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. His cricketing successes have been claimed by Shane ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Pool B

Pool B was known as the Cowdrey Pool, after former English batsman Sir

Colin Cowdrey Michael Colin Cowdrey, Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, (24 December 1932 – 4 December 2000) was an English cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1976, and in 114 Test matches for England from 1954 to 1975. He was born i ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Pool C

Pool C was known as the Gavaskar Pool, after former Indian batsman

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ born 10 July 1949), is a former captain of the Indian national cricket team who represented India national cricket team, India and Mumbai crick ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Pool D

Pool D was known as the Sobers Pool, after former West Indian all-rounder Sir

Garfield Sobers The Right Excellent Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, NH, AO, OCC (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a Barbadian born former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowle ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Plate competition

The plate competition was contested by the eight teams that failed to qualify for the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

Pool A

Pool A was known as the Magiet Pool, after South African administrator Rushdie Magiet. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Pool B

Pool B was known as the Procter Pool, after former South African all-rounder

Mike Procter Michael John Procter (15 September 1946 – 17 February 2024) was a South African cricketer, whose involvement in international cricket was limited by South Africa's banishment from world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s. A fast bowler and hard- ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Plate Final

Super Eights

Pool A

Pool A was known as the D'Olivera Pool, after former England international

Basil D'Oliveira Basil Lewis D'Oliveira CBE OIS (4 October 1931 – 19 November 2011) was an England international cricketer of South African Cape Coloured background, whose potential selection by England for the scheduled 1968–69 tour of apartheid-era Sout ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Pool B

Pool B was known as the Pollock Pool, after former South African batsman

Graeme Pollock Robert Graeme Pollock (born 27 February 1944) is a former cricketer for South African national cricket team, South Africa, Transvaal cricket team, Transvaal and Eastern Province cricket team, Eastern Province. A member of a famous cricketing fam ...

. ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Final

Future senior players

Future players that featured for their national team in the tournament were:

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Under-19 Cricket World Cup, 1998 1998 in cricket

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

1998 in South African cricket International cricket competitions in South Africa