Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin are to be the host venues in New Zealand for the staging of the Under-19 World Cup in January and February.

Sixteen teams from around the world will be taking part, and 14 of the teams have been decided with two more qualifiers still to be found.

An opening ceremony will be held at the Christchurch Convention Centre on Monday, January 14 with teams then having two warm-up games against sides from other pools before the tournament starts with the opening game between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln on Saturday, January 19.

India is the defending champion having beaten Sri Lanka in the final of the last tournament, held in Sri Lanka two years ago.

The tournament will be staged in four pools of four.

In Auckland, playing at Colin Maiden Park will be India, South Africa, Bangladesh and Canada.

Two sections will be played in Christchurch, at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln Green and Lincoln Three.

In section two will be, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Namibia while in section three will be Pakistan, England, the Asia qualifier and the East Asia/Pacific qualifier.

In section four in Dunedin, with all games played at Carisbrook, will be Australia, the West Indies, Scotland and Kenya.

Once the first round of section play is completed, the top two teams from each pool will move into a Super League. This will be played in two pools of four teams.

The top two teams in each pool will go through to the finals series.

The Super League and finals will all be played in Christchurch.

The bottom two teams in pool play move into a plate championship, also in two pools to follow a similar format to the Super League. The plate championship will be staged in Auckland.

Each team in the tournament will be assured of six games, while the World Cup winner will have played eight matches.

© CricInfo