NZ to host U-19 World Cup

New Zealand is to host the ICC Under-19 World Cup next year.

The ICC took the tournament away from Kenya on Thursday because it had too much work still to be done.

On the same day that it reaffirmed there would be no World Cup games in Pakistan, the ICC said that as long as satisfactory terms could be arranged New Zealand would be the ideal venue.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said: "We have been working with Kenya to monitor their progress towards staging the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup for some time, with visits to the locations earmarked for matches and regular reports to the ICC board.

"Regrettably, the conclusion reached was that the amount of work still to be done to get many of the venues ready was such that retaining Kenya as a host represented too great a risk to the successful staging of the event."

He said it wasn't possible to continue in the hope that everything would be ready by February.

The importance of the tournament, which is regarded as the highest profile event on the ICC's development calendar, attracted world-wide television coverage and is a significant stepping stone to international level.

"We hope Kenya will be able to stage ICC events in the future and we are grateful to New Zealand Cricket for its offer to stage the tournament. It did so successfully in 2002 and we look forward to it doing so again in 2010," Lorgat said.