The gentlemen’s game has millions of hearts beating on every ball, wicket, four or a six, and for all the fans and cricket lovers, there is no bigger festival than the World Cup itself. Fans all over the world wait long to hear about the ICC Cricket World cup schedule. Here it is, good news for all cricket lovers, The Cricket World Cup 2019 is set to be staged in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14, 2019. It is the fifth time in the 12 edition of world cup that the Cricket World Cup will be held in England and Wales, following the 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999 World Cups.
Fans all over the world wait for four long years to cheer for their favourite nation to lift the prestigious trophy and make all the fans proud. Teams battle for glory, boys become men, men become heroes, and heroes write history. The ICC World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world and in Cricket World Cup 2019 there will be total 10 national teams competing in the mightiest arena of cricket to achieve this glory.
The total of 10 teams is a decrease in participating teams from previous versions of the world cup, i.e. in 2011 and 2015, where 14 teams competed. The hosts England and other seven top teams in the ICC One Day International Team Rankings as of September 30, 2017, were given an automatic qualification and the other two teams qualified through 2018 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers. The qualified teams other than England are India, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Afghanistan where the latter two qualifying through the qualifiers.
There will be total 48 matches played across 11 different venues all across England and Wales for 46 days. Edgbaston Cricket Ground of Birmingham will host 5 matches, including the semi-final. Bristol County Ground will host 3 matches, Sophia Gardens of Cardiff will host 4 matches, Riverside Ground will host 3 matches, Headingley ground of Leeds will host 4 matches, County Ground of Taunton will host 3 matches, the Oval, Trent Bridge and Rose Bowl will each host 5 matches. Old Trafford stadium of Manchester will host 6 matches including the semifinal, and the final will be played in the Mecca of cricket, the Lord’s, which will also host 4 other group matches.
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The ten team tournament has gained criticism due to the lack of Associate teams in the tournament. After the elimination of Scotland and the United Arab Emirates, this will be the first World Cup to feature no Associate members. In June 2017, the Test playing nations has increased from 10 to 12, with the admission of Ireland and Afghanistan. It will be the first World Cup to be contested without all of the Test playing nations being present.
The tournament will be conducted in a Round Robin format where all the 10 teams will be placed in a single pool, where all the teams will play against each other once. Hence, each team will play a total of nine matches, making it a total of 45 matches in Group stage. After the successful completion of the group stage matches, the top four teams will progress to the knockout stage. This format was previously used in 1992 World Cup.
Hosts England will play the tournament opener against South Africa in the Oval in London on May 30th. Former champions and current ICC Champions Trophy winners Pakistan will bang their horns with reigning world Twenty20 champions and two-time former champions West Indies on 31 May at Trent Bridge. The defending and five-time world champions Australia will start their campaign against Afghanistan in Bristol on 1st June.
Afghanistan will also have their hopes high with their Qualifier conquest where they became the qualifier tournaments champions beating West Indies in the final. They have superstars like Rashid Khan in their ranks and look ready to kill some giants during their 9-match campaign.
The 1983 and 2011 world champions India will start their campaign with a match against the mighty South African team on 5 June at Rose Bowl in Southampton. The much-awaited clash between their bitter rivals Pakistan will be held on 16 June at prestigious Old Trafford of Manchester.
Edgbaston Ground in Birmingham and Old Trafford in Manchester will host the two semi-finals, which are scheduled to be played on 9 and 11 July while Lord’s will stage a World Cup final for the fifth time, on 14 July. All these three knockout matches will have reserve days.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Schedule
Date | Fixture (Day or Day-Night) | Venue |
30 May | England v South Africa (d) | The Oval, London |
31 May | West Indies v Pakistan (d) | Trent Bridge, Nottingham |
1 June | New Zealand v Sri Lanka (d) | Cardiff Wales Stadium, Cardiff |
1 June | Afghanistan v Australia (d/n) | County Ground Bristol, Bristol |
2 June | South Africa v Bangladesh (d) | The Oval, London |
3 June | England v Pakistan (d) | Trent Bridge, Nottingham |
4 June | Afghanistan v Sri Lanka (d) | Cardiff Wales Stadium, Cardiff |
5 June | South Africa v India (d) | Hampshire Bowl, Southampton |
6 June | Australia v W Indies (d) | Trent Bridge, Nottingham |
7 June | Pakistan v Sri Lanka (d) | County Ground Bristol, Bristol |
8 June | England v Bangladesh (d) | Cardiff Wales Stadium, Cardiff |
8 June | Afghanistan v New Zealand (d/n) | County Ground, Taunton |
9 June | India v Australia (d) | The Oval, London |
10 June | South Africa v W Indies (d) | Hampshire Bowl, Southampton |
11 June | Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (d) | County Ground Bristol, Bristol |
12 June | Australia v Pakistan (d) | County Ground, Taunton |
13 June | India v New Zealand (d) | Trent Bridge, Nottingham |
14 June | England v W Indies (d) | Hampshire Bowl, Southampton |
15 June | Sri Lanka v Australia (d) | The Oval, London |
15 June | South Africa v Afghanistan (d/n) | Cardiff Wales Stadium, Cardiff |
16 June | India v Pakistan (d) | Old Trafford, Manchester |
17 June | W Indies v Bangladesh (d) | County Ground, Taunton |
18 June | England v Afghanistan (d) | Old Trafford, Manchester |
19 June | New Zealand v South Africa (d) | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
20 June | Australia v Bangladesh (d) | Trent Bridge, Nottingham |
21 June | England v Sri Lanka (d) | Headingley, Leeds |
22 June | India v Afghanistan (d) | Hampshire Bowl, Southampton |
22 June | Windies v New Zealand (d/n) | Old Trafford, Manchester |
23 June | Pakistan v South Africa (d) | Lord’s, London |
24 June | Bangladesh v Afghanistan (d) | Hampshire Bowl, Southampton |
25 June | England v Australia (d) | Lord’s, London |
26 June | New Zealand v Pakistan (d) | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
27 June | W Indies v India (d) | Old Trafford, Manchester |
28 June | Sri Lanka v South Africa (d) | The Riverside, Chester-le-Street |
29 June | Pakistan v Afghanistan (d) | Headingley, Leeds |
29 June | New Zealand v Australia (d/n) | Lord’s, London |
30 June | England v India (d) | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
1 July | Sri Lanka v Windies (d) | The Riverside, Chester-le-Street |
2 July | Bangladesh v India (d) | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
3 July | England v New Zealand (d) | The Riverside, Chester-le-Street |
4 July | Afghanistan v Windies (d) | Headingley, Leeds |
5 July | Pakistan v Bangladesh (d/n) | Lord’s, London |
6 July | Sri Lanka v India (d) | Headingley, Leeds |
6 July | Australia v South Africa (d/n) | Old Trafford, Manchester |
9 July | First semi-final (1 v 4) (d) | Old Trafford, Manchester |
10 July | Reserve day | Old Trafford, Manchester |
11 July | Second semi-final (2 v 3) (d) | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
12 July | Reserve day | Edgbaston, Birmingham |
14 July | Final (d) | Lord’s, London |
15 July | Reserve day | Lord’s, London |
(Image Courtesy : AS English – Diario AS)