MELBOURNE/WELLINGTON: Cricket World Cup will kick start on February 14, 2015, the International Cricket Council (ICC) launched the schedule of the tournament being jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
The announcement was made by the ICC official twitter account just as two simultaneous launch events took place at Melbourne in Australia and Wellington in New Zealand.
The tournament will kick off on February 14, with New Zealand taking on Sri Lanka in Christchurch, and Australia taking on England at the MCG in Melbourne. The final match of the world cup will be played in Melbourne on March 29.
Pakistan, placed in pool B, will get their campaign underway in Adelaide on February 15 against defending champions India in a day and night encounter.
The ICC chose to host two simultaneous events to mark the launch of the world cup. The one in Melbourne was attended by the Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd who voiced hope that the tournament will bring tourism and trade along with the fans.
“It will attract cricket fans from around the globe and also promote Australia and our close friend New Zealand internationally -especially in India and other parts of south Asia,” the Australian cricket board website reported him as saying.
Rudd was accompanied by former captains Ian Chappell (Australia), Kapil Dev (India) and Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) and cricketing legend Dennis Lillee.
In Wellington, the New Zealand prime minister John Key attended along with former great Sir Richard Hadlee and former captains Waqar Younis (Pakistan), Glenn Turner (New Zealand) and Stephen Fleming (New Zealand).
The 14 venues for matches have been distributed among Australia and New Zealand, with both countries hosting matches in seven of their cities.
Australian hosting cities include: Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart, Perth, Canberra and Brisbane. While the New Zealand cities which will be hosting matches include: Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and Wellington.
While the pool matches have been evenly divided, Australia gets the big final and bulk of the quarter finals, but New Zealand gets to host one quarter final and one semi final.
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson, who attended the event launch in Melbourne, said “The ICC Cricket World Cup is the flagship tournament of the 50-over game. The 2015 tournament will mark 40 years since the first World Cup in 1975 and that history of great contests and heroes helps make the tournament what it is – the most sought after prize in our increasingly global game.”
The world cup is returning to Australia and New Zealand after 23 years. Then, an Imran Khan led Pakistan won the final against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Pools
Pool A: England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Qualifier 2 and Qualifier 3.
Pool B: South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies Zimbabwe, Ireland and Qualifier 4
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