The football, rugby and other sports seasons may be all but over, despite there being some pretty big games coming up. But lets not forgot we have loads of cricket to look forward to this summer.
Some people might not have realised how much cricket has taken place already in the domestic season which began in April, but now we’re just days away from the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Whether you are a cricket fan or not, this tournament will definitely be one you won’t want to miss. Maybe you’re new to cricket but want to see what all the hype is about. Perhaps your child has just started playing down their local club. Either way, you should take some time to watch what will surely be a fantastic occasion.
Where and when does the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup start?
The tournament starts with the hosts England playing South Africa on Saturday 30th May at The Oval Cricket Ground in London. The last match will be the final, which is at Lord’s on 14th July.
Tournament Format
The opening match will be the first of forty five Round Robin matches where all ten teams taking part will place each other once.
The ten teams taking part in the 12th Cricket World Cup are England, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. They will play each of their nine Round Robin matches at one of the eleven different venues around England & Wales over a six week period.
The Round Robin will be followed by two semi-finals for the four teams finishing top of the group, with the winners advancing to the final, which takes place at Lord’s Cricket Ground on Sunday 14th July.
Is the Cricket World Cup on TV?
It sure is! Every single match from the tournament is to be broadcast live on Sky Sports throughout May, June and July. This includes matches that are taking place at the same time as well as they will show matches on a different Sky Sports channels along with main Sky Sports Cricket channel.
If you don’t have Sky Sports but would still like to watch as much of the tournament as possible then there are rumours that UK free-to-air broadcaster Channel 4 will be showing highlights.
This hasn’t been confirmed as yet but the deal is expected to be announced very soon in a sub-licencing agreement with CWC international rights holder Star and UK rights-holder Sky.
Can I still get Tickets?
Sky Sports coverage of the Cricket World Cup will be absolutely fantastic so make sure you do not miss a single match with them. Unless of course you have already purchased tickets to watch one or more of the many matches.
If not, then yes you can definitely still buy tickets for certain games even though they have been on sale since the end of last summer. You’ll need to register here: https://tickets.cricketworldcup.com/ and then go through the various list of matches to see what the availability is.
The prices vary from game to game with the England and the more popular games costing a lot more than some, however you can definitely still pick up some tickets from as cheap as £18 or £20 per adult, with kids tickets from around £6.
Who Is Going To Win?
We are of course! Obviously all home fans will want England to win it, and this may come of a surprise to most but England are right up there as one of the favourites. Yes, the tournament is in this country so that definitely gives England an advantage going into the competition, but that is not the only reason.
England are currently ranked the number one side in the world and they probably have their best team since the 1992 tournament, but that was when the game was completely different.
Therefore this is easily the best chance of England winning this tournament for the very first time and the England board of selectors have certainly prepared England the best they could have done to give them every chance. As the depth of player selection is fantastic with all bases covered along with coming into it in so much form, with consistent and good confidence performances of late.
England biggest threat will be India, who are right up there as one of the tournament favourites too with their outstanding batsmen and captain Virat Kohli their main man. Australia have had their on and off field problems in the past year or so which has been well documented, but you can never write off the five times winners.
Both New Zealand and South Africa have been known as bottlers and chokers of this tournament down the years having always failed to deliver. They can of course produce sublime performances against anyone on their day but if I was to chose one to go further than the other this time around it would be New Zealand for sure. South Africa just aren’t the same team since AB de Villiers retired.
The outsiders or ones to watch are the West Indies and Pakistan, but if they were to turn up and win the tournament then it would not come as a major shock. Again, like Australia, both these sides have had on and off the field problems for quite a few years now, however on the field they can both produce explosive performances to beat anyone on any given day.
The remaining teams are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and I don’t give any of these teams a chance of winning the World Cup itself, but they will certainly cause some upsets throughout the tournament I’m sure of that. If any of the bigger nations take these three teams lightly they will come unstuck for sure because all three teams have some excellent young and old players.
Whoever wins, it’s sure to be a great occasion and a fantastic advert for the game. So remember to tune in and enjoy the tournament!
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