New Zealand begin U-19 World Cup preparations with tour of Bangladesh

New Zealand Under-19s are headed to Bangladesh to play their first bilateral series against these opponents in April this year - this will be the visiting side's first series in the lead up to the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, which will be played in South Africa in January next year.

The two teams have only met in World Cups to date, four times in total, and both teams have won and lost two games each.

New Zealand are coached by Peter Fulton, the former Test batsman, with Adam Miles and Dion Ebrahim as the assistant coaches.

Interestingly, they will not be naming their captain till the squad arrives in Bangladesh, with a New Zealand Cricket press statement saying that the intention is "to share that responsibility among several players".

The tour will start with a 50-over warm-up game, followed by five 50-over contests - the schedule for the series is yet to be announced.

Of the opportunity to play Bangladesh, who recently hosted the England Under-19s, Paul Wiseman, the former Test spinner who is the programme leader for the Under-19s, said: "We see this as purely a wonderful opportunity; a subcontinental tour that the players will really benefit from. I think we'll learn a lot about players over there."

New Zealand U-19 squad: Adithya Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Micah Conroy, Lucas Dasent, Joey Field, Jesse Frew, Nick Lidstone, Ruben Love, Rhys Mariu, Ben Pomare, Tim Pringle, Dylan Sharma, Angus Sidey, Jesse Tashkoff, Ollie White.