New dispensation? It feels more like a case of as you were at the Cricket South Africa offices. Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images

• Political instability in Sri Lankan cricket has opened up the path for South Africa to host its third Under-19 Cricket World Cup early next year.
• South Africa will be hosting the tournament for the third time, having done so in 1998 and 2020 after an International Cricket Council board meeting on Tuesday.
• Sri Lanka will be able to participate in bilateral and ICC matches after they were suspended by the ICC for political interference by their ministry.
• For more, please visit News24 Sport’s home page.

Sri Lanka’s loss is South Africa’s gain as the island’s cricket upheavals have gifted South Africa a third opportunity to host the Under-19 World Cup.

South Africa hosted the tournament in 1998 and 2020, but after the outcomes of an International Cricket Council board meeting on Tuesday that lifted Sri Lanka cricket’s suspension enough for them to participate in bilateral and ICC events, SA received its third bite at the hosting cherry.

The tournament is set to take place from 13 January to 4 February, meaning it will run concurrently with the SA20 (10 January to 10 February), which will invalidate South Africa’s six main grounds in Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Gqeberha, Centurion, and Paarl.

However, grounds like Benoni, Potchefstroom, Kimberley and Bloemfontein, who all hosted Under-19 World Cup games three years ago, become viable playing options.

Benoni and Potchefstroom were the host venues for the Women’s T20 Under-19 World Cup, while the JB Marks Oval hosted the 2020 Under-19 World Cup final, which was amazingly won by Bangladesh against India in what was a memorable game.

The Under-19 World Cup will now form part of the build-up to the 2027 men’s 50-over World Cup that will be hosted by South Africa alongside Zimbabwe and Namibia, with South Africa returning to the front line of hosting ICC events.

South Africa successfully hosted the Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this year, which also ran slightly concurrently with the inaugural SA20.

The early part of the SA20 was held in Cape Town, Paarl, and Gqeberha to ensure the grounds were cleared for the Women’s T20 World Cup, where South Africa ended runners-up up to Australia.

The change in venue provides the South African team, which last won in 2014 in the United Arab Emirates, with a chance to better their lot in Under-19 World Cups at home.

In 1998 they fell in the second round (the super eights) where a three-wicket loss to Sri Lanka saw them miss out on a place in the final to New Zealand on net run-rate.

Three years ago, the Baby Proteas had a difficult tournament in which they lost to Afghanistan in the group stages, but they beat Canada and the United Arab Emirates to make the quarter-finals before being eliminated.

In the placement matches, they lost to the West Indies and Afghanistan to finish eighth in the competition.

In 2022, they bounced back well in the West Indies where they lost in the quarter-finals to England, and beat Afghanistan to finish seventh.