THE ICC Under-19 World Cup next year has been taken away from Kenya and will be hosted by New Zealand as a result of slow progress in upgrading grounds and facilities, the ICC announced after a meeting at Lord's today.

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An ICC report concluded that with only eight months to go before the event -- awarded to Cricket Kenya in 2006 -- it was unrealistic to expect Kenya to be ready to act as hosts, given the large amount of work still needing to be done.

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said: "Regrettably, the conclusion reached was that the amount of work still to be done to get many of the venues ready was such that retaining Kenya as a host represented too great a risk to the successful staging of the event. It is a difficult conclusion to have reached and a regrettable one from the perspectives of both the ICC and Cricket Kenya, but with just eight months to go before the scheduled start, we could not proceed on the basis of hoping that everything would be ready next February.

"The ICC Under-19 World Cup is the highest profile event in the ICC’s development calendar. Coverage of the matches is broadcast all around the world, and it is a recognised stepping stone for players to graduate to full international level.

"We hope Kenya will be able to stage ICC events in the future and we are grateful to New Zealand Cricket for their offer to stage the tournament."