U19 World Cup: Afghanistan's participation in doubt

• ICC U19 World Cup is set to begin on January 14.
• Players have still not gotten their visa for West Indies.
• ICC says in talks with Afghan authorities.

KARACHI: Afghanistan’s participation in this month’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup is in doubt as the team is waiting for visas to travel to the West Indies.

The biennial cricketing event featuring future stars starts on January 14 in West Indies with 16 teams — including Afghanistan — scheduled to partake in it.

However, now the fate of the Afghanistan U19 team hangs in the balance.

ICC, in a statement, confirmed that the Afghanistan players have still not arrived in West Indies due to delays in obtaining the visas.

“The Afghanistan squad is yet to arrive in the West Indies due to delays in obtaining the necessary visas, whilst discussions attempting to resolve the issue are ongoing,” the ICC said.

ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley said that cricket’s global body has been working together with the Afghanistan Cricket Board and relevant stakeholders to try and find a resolution to the problem and allow the team to travel.

“In the meantime, we have rescheduled the warm-up fixtures to ensure the teams in the region are able to continue their preparation ahead of the start of the tournament on 14 January,” he said.

Following this announcement, Afghanistan’s warm-up matches for the Under 19 Cricket World Cup have been cancelled and the warm-up matches for England and the UAE have been rescheduled.

The warm-up matches were scheduled in St Kitts and Nevis against England at Warner Park on January 10 and the January 12 fixture against the UAE at St Paul’s.

England will now play UAE at Conaree Cricket Centre on January 11.