Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

One of my most cherished memories as a cricket fan is a distant one. Trudging off to a game i considered not attending to merely stay home and watch it on tv, i decided that a World Cup final was a once in a lifetime experience, so the 92 final was therefore not a match i could pass up. Having been to all but one of the MCG fixtures during that tournament, the final was by far the best of those matches. I remember that little Pakistani fella banging on his drum, the fire works, Wasim Akram's first delivery as the great Southern Stand seem to explode with photography flashes. There was that partnership between two of the games greats; Javed Miandad and Imran Khan, and of course that cameo by Inzy. Beefy was unlucky to fall early in the England innings. This was the last time the Poms made it to a World Cup final... all those years ago. Fast forward 23 years and the final in 2015 will once again be played at the MCG... and I'll be there with bells on!

Organization for the next WC is already well under way, with the teams already drawn into 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

At this very early juncture, I'd suggest that the three remaining qualifiers are most likely to be; Afghanistan, Netherlands and Kenya.

In the age of T20 cricket, I reckon this will be the best 50 WC ever!



http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-cricket-world-cup-2015/content/current/story/656365.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Cricket_World_Cup

February 13th 2015
Sri Lanka v New Zealand, Hagley Oval, Christchurch

February 14th 2015
England v Australia, Melbourne Cricket Ground

February 15th 2015
South Africa v Zimbabwe, Seddon Park, Hamilton.

India v Pakistan, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide.

West Indies v Ireland, Saxton Oval, Nelson

February 16th 2015
New Zealand v qualifier, University Oval, Dunedin.

February 18th 2015
Bangladesh v qualifier, Manuka Oval, Canberra.

Zimbabwe v qualifier, Saxton Oval, Nelson.

February 20th 2015
England v New Zealand, Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington

Pakistan v West Indies, Hagley Oval, Christchurch

February 21st 2015
Australia v Bangladesh, The Gabba, Brisbane

Sri Lanka v qualifier, University Oval, Dunedin

February 22nd 2015
South Africa v India, Melbourne Cricket Ground

England v TBD, Hagley Oval, Christchurch

February 24th 2015
West Indies v Zimbabwe, Manuka Oval, Canberra

February 25th 2015
Ireland v qualifier, The Gabba, Brisbane.

Qualifier v qualifier, University Oval, Dunedin

February 26th 2015
Sri Lanka v Bangladesh, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne

February 27th 2015
South Africa v West Indies, Sydney Cricket Ground

February 28th 2015
Australia v New Zealand, Eden Park, Auckland

India v qualifier, WACA, Perth

England v Sri Lanka, Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington

March 1st 2015
Pakistan v Zimbabwe, The Gabba, Brisbane.

March 3rd 2015
South Africa v Ireland, Manuka Oval, Canberra

March 4th 2015
Pakistan v qualifier, McLean Park, Napier.

Australia v qualifier, WACA, Perth.

Bangladesh v qualifier Saxton Oval, Nelson

March 6th 2015
India v West Indies, WACA, Perth

March 7th 2015
South Africa v Pakistan, Eden Park, Auckland.

Zimbabwe v Ireland, Bellerive Oval, Hobart.

New Zealand v qualifier, McLean Park, Napier

March 8th 2015
Australia v Sri Lanka, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney.

March 9th 2015
England v Bangladesh, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide

March 10th 2015
India v Ireland, Seddon Park, Hamilton.

March 11th 2015
Sri Lanka v qualifier, Bellerive Oval, Hobart.

March 12th 2015
South Africa v qualifier, Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington

March 13th 2015
Bangladesh v New Zealand, Seddon Park, Hamilton

England v qualifier, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

March 14th 2015
India v Zimbabwe, Eden Park, Auckland

Australia v qualifier, Bellerive Oval, Hobart

March 15th 2015
West Indies v qualifier, McLean Park, Napier

Pakistan v Ireland, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide.

March 18th 2015
Quarter Final 1, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney.

March 19th 2015
Quarter Final 2, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne.

March 20th 2015
Quarter Final 3, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide.

March 21st 2015
Quarter Final 4, Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington.

March 24th 2015
Semi Final 1, Eden Park, Auckland.

March 26th 2015
Semi Final 2, Sydney Cricket Ground,

March 29th 2015
Final, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne

The 2014 WC qualifiers will be held in NZ.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Cricket_World_Cup_Qualifier

Bit stupid to have 3 games on one day. Will all the matches be televised?

That looks a good group for England. Bit surprised the co hosts haven't been put in separate groups.

It's heartening to see a good representation of the associate nations. But, in my view, the WC will never be an exciting competition until they get rid of such a lengthy league system. I know it is done this way to ensure the big nations remain involved for longer, but it just kills off interest. I think if the WC consisted of four groups of four and knockouts from the last eight, like an earlier version of the football WC, it would be a great event. And it's shorter length would be an advantage.

I've never booked days off for limited overs games before. And D/N games will start at an awkward time for UK watchers. But I might try and take the England games off.

England's_No7 wrote:Bit stupid to have 3 games on one day. Will all the matches be televised?

that only in england though, all matches will be televised, because of the time difference between new zealand and Australia, they would literally be back to back matches.

for example in the opening match New Zealand vs Sri lanka, it would start at 9.00 UK time, the England vs Australia is a day night game in Australia, so it should start around 2.00-3.00 in the morning.
don't think there are many clashes between games, maybe 1 or 2 hours at best between 2 games scheduled in the same day.

I am very surprised they used last year rankings for the tables, England ranked number 1, South Africa 2, india 3, funny enough Sky sports news Presenters think England are ranked number 1 in the rankings

Forgot that all the matches will be played during the night. Guess i'll miss half of the matches.

I think the organisers take the rankings that give Pakistan and India in the same group

Better for us in UK if the matches are not played under lights, especially in NZ. Better for Indian audiences if they are.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:I think the organisers take the rankings that give Pakistan and India in the same group

yep it seems like the organizers wanted india vs Pakistan, England vs Australia, also that both New Zealand and australia get to host india and england games.
ICC can't just pick any random teams otherwise, boards can sue them, they have to be transparent, they usually use the rankings to justify the tables, but never use the same dates or formats to pick the tables.
funny enough the groups are the same as the 2013 champions trophy.

I hate the way ICC Picks the groups, all India groups always feel similar, we always get the same teams.

Probably better to get Zimbabwe than Bangladesh, and better to avoid Ireland out of the Associates, so that has evened out.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Probably better to get Zimbabwe than Bangladesh, and better to avoid Ireland out of the Associates, so that has evened out.

I really hoped ICC would schedule the minnows better, in 2011 all the better minnow were in one group.

currently Ireland and Zimbabwe are in the same group which is good, since ireland should never be in the same group as Bangladesh, that would mean the top 2 minnows being in the same group.

it should be like this.

England
Australia
Sri Lanka
Bangladesh
New Zealand
Afghanistan
Scotland

with the other group getting Holland, it actually makes both group look good, instead of one group getting all the best minnows and the other group being boring.

lets not forget Ireland, Holland and bangladesh made Group B more interesting.

It sounds like Holland will qualify, and then two out of a pre WC tournament in NZ. Which is a good idea, as it involves many more associates into the periphery of the competition.

That will be Scotland, Afghanistan, Canada, Kenya, Namibia and UAE. And two more from the next level, who have no chance. USA? Bermuda?

England's_No7 wrote:Bit stupid to have 3 games on one day. Will all the matches be televised?

Does a bit when there are no group stage matches on 17th, 19th, 23rd February, 2nd March and 5th March. The World Cup gets criticised for lengthy group games, surely you could reschedule some matches with those playing 3 games in 1 day.