Photo: (Getty Images)
By Jake Jones
The 2019 Cricket World Cup will see England and South Africa go head to head in the tournament’s opener, as the ICC released the full fixture schedule on Thursday.
Eoin Morgan’s side will head to The Oval on 30 May to take on the Proteas for their first match, finishing the group stage by playing New Zealand at Durham.
The ECB was considering high-capacity venues to host the 50-over competition in 2019, after seeing the success of Australia and New Zealand hosting the tournament in 2015. But competition organisers have decided against including the Olympic Stadium, home of West Ham United, as one of the 11 grounds named.
Lord’s will host the final on 14 July, while the semi-finals will be played in Manchester and Birmingham at Old Trafford and Edgbaston, respectively.
The tournament features ten teams playing nine round-robin matches and will see England attempt to win a maiden World Cup on home soil from defending champions Australia.
The ICC’s managing director Steve Elworthy voiced his expectations for a tournament full of entertainment and fair prices, saying, “Because of the UK’s diverse population, every competing team will also be guaranteed a ‘home crowd’ every time they play.
“The Cricket World Cup is the third most watched global event and has huge interest and appeal amongst cricket fans. Our ambition is to grow the game and deliver the greatest ever cricket celebration and with that in mind we have very carefully developed our ticket prices.
“The prices have been tested with thousands of fans over the last six months, we have used external experts and consulted widely to ensure that they are good value versus other global sporting events. The prices balance accessibility with delivering the investment required to deliver a world-class event. All revenue is invested back in the game to grow cricket.”
The 11 venues include; Bristol, Chester-le-Street (Durham), Edgbaston (Birmingham), Headingley (Leeds), Lord’s (London), Old Trafford (Manchester), The Oval (London), Taunton (Somerset), Trent Bridge (Nottingham), Ageas Bowl (Southampton)
• 80,000+ tickets at £20 (over half of the group stage matches)
• 200,000+ tickets at £50 or less
• Child tickets at every match, starting from £6
• Family of four for £52Ticket prices for #CWC19 have been announced. 🎟️https://t.co/izWmLrNtHX pic.twitter.com/H4EO6k4VS7
— #CWC11Rewind (@cricketworldcup) April 26, 2018
England’s three group games are as follows:
v South Africa (May 30, The Oval)
v Pakistan (June 3, Trent Bridge)
v Bangladesh (June 8, Cardiff)
v Windies (June 14, The Ageas Bowl)
v Afghanistan (June 18, Old Trafford)
v Sri Lanka (June 21 Headingley)
v Australia (June 25, Lord’s)
v India (June 30, Edgbaston)
v New Zealand (July 3, Durham)
