One of the most exciting developments within the Black Caps in the last couple of years has been the number of youngsters to earn selection in the flagship New Zealand Cricket team.

Players such as Doug Bracewll, Kane Williamson, Trent Boult and Tim Southee, have progressed from promising age group talents, to places in the New Zealand first XI.

Their progress has been accelerated by competing in the various NZ Cricket and major association age group tournaments, which are played each summer.

Next week the next crop of emerging North Island youngsters are set to showcase talent and skills at the North Island Under-16 Cricket tournament to be played at Owen Delaney Park in Taupo, January 15-20, 2012.

Owen Delaney Park is an ideal location for provincial cricket with a cricket ground that provides a number of top class wickets.

Another real plus is the central North Island location is that it makes easy commuting for all four under-16 sides.

A three game series of two-day cricket, where all four sides will play in a round robin format, will find the North Island champions on Saturday week.

Day one and two will see Northern Districts (ND) face Central Districts (CD) with Auckland playing Wellington.

On day three and four ND will square off against Auckland, while CD will meet Wellington. It is likely that the championship title will be decided in the last two day's play, where Wellington will go head-to-head with ND, and CD up against Auckland.

North Island Under-16 Cricket Tournament Draw

15/16 January – ND v CD, Auckland v Wellington.

17/18 January – ND v Auckland, CD v Wellington.

19/20 January – ND v Wellington, CD v Auckland.

Team Lists

Northern Districts

James Boyd, Sean Daniels, Simon Lal, Shannon McSkimming, Myles Timoti, Gareth Wallace, Sam Clotworthy, Zak Gibson, Jonty Keaney, Scott Tallott, Sam Turner, Matt Wallbank.

Coach: Ben Williams

Manager: Jarron Mason

Wellington

Sam Collier, Jack Imray, Tom Jamieson, Troy Johnson, Michael Parish, Alex Ridley, Ben Skilton, Henry Glogan, Luke Ireland, Lachie Johns, George Kitchingham, Sam Partridge, Daniel Rose.

Coach: Glen Pocknall

Manager: John Selby

Central Districts

Andre Halbert, Robert Boot, Josh Clarkson, Daemon Kennett, Mathew O'Sullivan, Dominic Thompson, Josh Bohmer, Brett Cameron, Mitchell Hammond, Liam Muggeridge, Matthew Stretch, Nicholas Weaver.

Coach: Dilan Raj

Manager: Nigel Brooke

Auckland

Mitchell Atkins, Aditya Edekar, Luke Knight, Varun Narula, Glen Phillips, Oscar Shepperson, Stefan Baumgartner, Luke Guildford, Mitchell Murray, Tristan Payle, Shaneil Sharma, Gagandeep Singh.

Coach: Hayden Gardner

Co-Coach/Manager: Neil Gray