Talent is one thing, statistics are another

Players compete in every ICC Under-19 World Cup with a dream of representing their country at the highest level -- or perhaps another country if they are Jonathan Trott or Eoin Morgan -- but the chance of a seamless move upwards is not as high as one might imagine.

On the face of it prospects seem good for the current squad in New Zealand, coached by Mark Robinson. Several players from the last tournament in 2008 could well progress; James Taylor, Chris Woakes, Steven Finn, James Harris and Liam Dawson spring to mind. Almost half of Andrew Strauss's recently successful 18-strong senior one-day squad in South Africa took part in a junior world cup. A total of 13 players had played under-19 international cricket at some stage, eight of these in a world cup.

This suggests that perhaps half England's under-19 squad of 15 in New Zealand this month can expect higher recognition, but statistics can be deceptive. The World Cup is held every two years, and the tournament's old boys stretch back a long way -- as far as 1998 in Graeme Swann's case, without forgetting that Trott turned out for South Africa and Morgan for Ireland.

Some years seem alarmingly barren. Ian Bell, a future England regular, was part of the 2000 tournament, the Kent all-rounder Alex Loudon played a single one-day international and that was that. Subsequent tournaments followed this pattern with the exception of 2004 in Bangladesh, which produced Luke Wright plus Cook, Bopara, Bresnan, Patel and Plunkett, all future internationals. That should encourage the present crop in Christchurch.

But even reaching an Under-19 World Cup is a high point in any career. There is an element of luck in gaining selection in the 'correct' year; Stuart Broad and James Anderson, for example, missed out. Only three cricketers have played in two world cups -- Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan and Greg Wood -- though James Goodman, of Kent, played in 2008 and did not gain selection this time.

The county that has produced the most Under-19 World Cup players since the inaugural ICC event in 1998 is Essex with 12, a figure boosted by the five they supplied to that first tournament. Stephen Peters, Graham Napier and off-spinner Jonathan Powell played in the winning final.

Durham have supplied 10 players and Yorkshire nine, following a rough pattern of population cachment, though perhaps the biggest surprise is Lancashire's relatively low total of four players from a cachment as extensive as Manchester and Liverpool. Not that these figures offer conclusive pointers as there were many players produced by all counties during non Under-19 World Cup years.

Number of Under-19 World Cup players per county (1998-2010):

12 Essex, 10 Durham, 9 Yorkshire, 7 Warwicks, 6 Middlesex, Kent, Glamorgan, 5 Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Northamptonshire, 4 Sussex, Somerset, Lancashire, 3 Leicestershire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, 1 Derbyshire.

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).