Fresh off his Central Districts A and Hawke's Bay senior rep debuts, former Napier Boys' High First XI captain JACOB COTTER has earned selection for New Zealand Under 19.

Born on Guy Fawke's Day, the explosive batter has been a pathway star, captaining CD U17 along the way to leading Central Districts Under 19 in a strong campaign at this season's recent NZC U19s Nationals - the final selection forum for the upcoming ICC U19 World Cup, in Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Cotter scored century off just 62 balls in the third place playoff at the recent Nationals and helmed the CD team well against hot competition.

He's no stranger to raising the bat and is a second generation Hawke's Bay rep as the son of former Hawke's Bay Hawke Cup rep and middle order batsman Jamie Cotter.

New Zealand Cricket has selected a strong squad, captained by Jeremey Coney's grandson Tom Jones who already has his first first-class century after having moved down to Otago from Auckland.

Jones is one of five players in the 15-strong national squad to have already gained a Domestic debut, something 19-year-old Cotter aspires to in the future.

Jones will be attending his second U19 Cricket World Cup and the squad sets off for Africa on 2 January. The other squad members with Domestic experience are Northern Districts batter Snehith 'Lucky' Reddy and wicketkeeper Aryan Mann; Otago quick bowler Mason Clarke, and Auckland bowling allrounder Jaskaran Sandhu.

Seventeen-year-old rising star Hugo Bogue has also been selected, fresh off an excellent display for Otago at the National Under 19 Men’s Tournament in Lincoln last week.

Bogue was the tournament’s third-highest run scorer averaging 72 with a high score of 169 against Northern Districts, and could form an explosive combination with Cotter given the opportunity.

Cotter was in the tournaments top six run scorers himself and steps into a natioanl squad coached by former BLACKCAP and Northern Districts rep Anton Devcich, alongside NZC High Performance coaches Paul Wiseman and Graeme Aldridge. 

 

 

New Zealand Under 19 Men

2026 ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup

Tom Jones - captain, Otago

Marco Alpe - Auckland 

Hugo Bogue - Otago

Harry Burns - Northern Districts

Mason Clarke - Otago

Jacob Cotter - Central Districts

Aryan Mann - Northern Districts

Brandon Matzopoulos - Auckland 

Flynn Morey - Northern Districts

Snehith ('Lucky') Reddy - Northern Districts

Callum Samson - Canterbury

Jaskaran Sandhu - Auckland

Selwin Sanjay - Auckland

Hunter Shore - Canterbury

Harry Waite - Auckland

SCHEDULE

All matches on SKY SPORT NZ

All matches 8.30PM NZT

At Queen’s Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Sunday 18 January v USA U19

Tuesday 20 January v Bangladesh U19 

Saturday 24 January v India U19

Super Six

(if qualified)

Semi-Final 1 • Tuesday 3 February 8.30pm NZT • Queen’s Sports Club

Semi-Final 2 • Wednesday 3 February 8.30pm NZT • Harare Sports Club

Final • Friday 6 February 8.30pm NZT • Harare Sports Club

For players to be age eligible for the tournament

they must be under 19 on 31 August 2026 and

born after 1 September 2006

Article added: Saturday 20 December 2025