Newaz takes U-19s under his wing

Naveed Newaz has been appointed as the Bangladesh Under-19 cricket team's new head coach, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed yesterday.

The Sri Lankan will take the side to the ICC Under-19 World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2020.

Newaz, the 44-year old former Sri Lankan international and former head coach of the Sri Lanka Under-19 cricket team, will be responsible for overseeing the Bangladesh Under-19s programmes and will prepare the side for the next Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

The BCB began their preparations for the next Youth World Cup with a fresh batch of teenage cricketers last May.

After finishing third in the 2016 Under-19 World Cup at home -- their best result in the tournament -- the Bangladesh Under-19 team finished sixth in the last edition of the biennial tournament in New Zealand earlier this year.

That downturn was attributed to the lack of practice that was given to the youths, especially as they had very few practice matches.

The first international assignment for Newaz -- who is a Cricket Australia High Performance (Level Three) Coach -- with the junior Tigers' will be the Asia Cup, to be held in the United Arab Emirates from September this year.