Robbo's Under 19's settle in Wellington

The official opening of the ICC Under-19 World Cup took place in an art gallery in Christchurch yesterday, a choice of venue by the New Zealand organisers well in keeping with cricket's ethos.

But more on cricketers and painting later.

The small ceremony marked the start of a programme of warm-up matches before the tournament itself begins in Christchurch, Queenstown and Palmerston North on Friday, with Ireland seeing action on the first day against South Africa at Queenstown. England, coached by Mark Robinson, open with Hong Kong on the second day at Lincoln University, the ground hosting the final on January 30.

The England squad acclimatised in Wellington over the water in North Island, having left London on New Year's Day, and their build-up has been shorter than most countries. In the windy city Robbo's Gang trained and played a practice match against a Wellington XI containing Jesse Ryder, the beefy New Zealand Test batsman and old boy from the 2002 junior world cup recuperating from injury. The official warm-up fixtures for all the teams started at minor grounds in Christchurch today.

India, the champions and England's main threat in Group A, arrived after winning a fully fledged triangular tournament in Johannesburg against South Africa and Sri Lanka. Captained by Ashok Menaria, they impressed all through, demolishing Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in their final match after shooting them out for 52. South Africa found the going tough -- some indirect encouragement for Ireland in Group B.

The opening was carried out by tournament dignitaries at the Christchurch Gallery on Worcester Boulevard. Fine art is associated with the subtle beauty of the game and occasionally with cricketers themselves, most notably the careers in front of the easle of two wicketkeepers Jack Russell (Gloucestershire) and Martin Speight (Sussex).

And then there is Michael Vaughan, the painter extraordinaire whose work was featured at a Castle Gallery exhibition in Milton Keynes last December. No Rembrandt or even a Russell, he built up a portfolio of pictures by whacking paint-smothered balls against blank canvas, which the former England captain decribed as "therapeutic".

The abstract results were... well, splodgily memorable. A mud-coloured single splat was described as follows by the Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones: "Here, the world of cricket pays homage to yet another modernist giant. The darkness of this spatter recalls the late works of Mark Rothko, and the sense of gloom is just as foreboding - rain stopping play or a defeat by Australia?" The sale of an Edwardian masterpiece by Albert Chevallier Tayler raised £600,000 for Kent in 2006, so it would be nice to imagine that sometime in the next Century a Vaughan splodge might do some county's finances a big favour somewhere at auction, hanging alongside a Tayler oil at Lord's. That might happen or might not.

If England's 15-strong squad conjure up success in this tournament, I will personally smack 15 yellow-smothered shots against an all black canvas and call it Golden Flowering in New Zealand. As with Vaughan, the limited edition signed prints would go on sale at £300 each with the firm expectation that at least 15 would be sold to the glory boys. And even Robinson, a Yorkshireman, might put his hand in his pocket.

Group A: India, England, Afghanistan, Hong Kong
Group B: South Africa, Australia, Ireland, USA
Group C: New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada
Group D: Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, Papua New Guinea

ENGLAND UNDER-19
Azeem Rafiq (Yorks, captain), Adam Ball (Kent), Michael Bates (Hants), Paul Best (Warwicks), Danny Briggs (Hants), Nathan Buck (Leics), Jos Buttler (Somerset), Chris Dent (Gloucs), Matthew Dunn (Surrey), Ateeq Javid (Warwicks), Jack Manuel (Worcs), David Payne (Gloucs), Joe Root (Yorks), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Vince (Hants).