U-19 Women’s T20 WC: Bangladesh face Australia in the opener

The inaugural ICC U-19 Women's T20 World Cup will kick off today with Bangladesh taking on Australia in their Group A clash at Willowmoore Park in Benoni.

The match will start at 2:00 PM (BST) and will be telecast live on sports streaming site Rabbithole.

The UAE will face Scotland in the other game at the same time while hosts South Africa will take on India and Sri Lanka will play against USA at 05:45pm (BST).

16 teams were divided into four groups, with the top three from each making it to the Super Six, which consists of two groups of six. Group 1 will have three teams each from Group A and Group D while Group 1 will have teams from Group B and Group C. The top two from each Group 1 and 2 then make the semifinals before the final on January 29 at Potchefstroom

Alongside Bangladesh, Group A contains Australia, Sri Lanka and the USA. Bangladesh will be buoyed by their wins in warm-up fixtures leading up to the showpiece event. They defeated South Africa by seven runs (D/L) method on Monday before defeating India in a tight game by just three runs on Wednesday.

Bangladesh will play their next match against Sri Lanka on January 16 before taking on the USA on January 18, both at the same venue.

Among the 15-member squad, which left for Johannesburg on January 1, captain Disha Biswas along with Marufa Akter and Dilara Akter have played in international fixtures, with the skipper having featured for the senior team during their tour of New Zealand.

South Africa had been a happy hunting ground for the men's U-19 team in 2020 and the women's side will be hoping to create some memories of their own this time around as the first edition of the tournament commences.