New Delhi, Dec 31 (IANS): Ahead of Ireland Under 19 women's team's departure for a preparation camp in South Africa on Sunday in advance of their participation in the inaugural ICC Women's Under-19 T20 World Cup, captain Amy Hunter believes the tournament will help bridge the gap between international cricket at junior and senior level.

"It's an important opportunity as it bridges the gap between underage cricket and senior international cricket -- it gives the players the chance to perform on the world stage and gives them a chance to better understand what international cricket and World Cups are all about," Amy was quoted as saying by an official release from Cricket Ireland.

Amy, 17, who has 24 caps already for the senior Ireland women's team, is excited by the prospect of leading the side at the U19 Women's T20 World Cup. "I was pretty honoured to be asked to captain the side by Glenn (Querl, head coach). I am excited by the prospect and am glad Glenn is backing me with the captaincy."

Asked about the squad's preparation and future plan of the squad, Amy explained, "We're here at North County having a final training session before we head off to South Africa on Sunday. Since mid-September, we've been able to have a number of national weekends."

"The squad has also had a few fitness tests, so we've luckily been able to have a lot of preparation. We now fly to Johannesburg on Sunday and have a week-long prep camp. We'll play a few warm-up games than before getting into the competition itself."

Ireland are in Group C and will meet Indonesia (on January 19), New Zealand (on January 17) and West Indies (on January 15) in the preliminary round. The 16 teams in the tournament will be divided into four groups of four, and play each other side in their group once.

Benoni and Potchefstroom in South Africa will be playing hosts to the inaugural edition of the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup. The top three in each group will progress to the Super Six stage, where qualifying teams from Group A will play against two of the qualifying teams from Group D.

Likewise, qualifying teams from Group B will play against two of the qualifying teams from Group C. The top two sides from each of the Super Six Leagues will progress to the semi-finals, and from there the teams playing the final will be decided.

After reaching the University of Pretoria on January 1, they will play unofficial warm-up fixtures against Zimbabwe and the UAE teams. It will be followed by official warm-up games against Pakistan and Namibia on January 9 and 11.