ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 Schedule

Schedule Of ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 :

Tournament Venues :

All of the 49 matches will be held in 13 different venues across the three countries. Except two new venues in Sri Lanka (Hambantota and Pallekele), the rest of them are test venues including India’s 8 well-known test grounds. Here, I am giving the names of the venues:

India

MA Chidambaram Stadium Chepauk Chennai, Sardar Patel Stadium Motera Ahmedabad,Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur,Feroz Shah Kotla Delhi,Eden Gardens Kolkata, M Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore, Punjab Cricket Association Stadium Mohali Chandigarh,Wankhede Stadium Mumbai

Bangladesh

Shere Bangla National Stadium Mirpur Dhaka, Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium Chittagong

Sri Lanka

Hambantota  Pallekele, R. Premadasa Stadium Colombo

Format of the Tournament

There are 14 teams who will be participating in the tournament including 10 test playing nations and 4 associate member countries. The test playing teams have automatically qualified for the tournament, while the 4 associate members have come through the qualifying tournament held in South Africa earlier this year. The four associate members are: Ireland, Canada, Netherlands and Kenya.The format of ICC World Cup 2011 is not same to that of the previous world cup that took place in West Indies in 2007. All of the 14 teams are divided into two groups of 7 teams each. In the group stage, each team will play against all other group members once in a round robin league system.

Group A:

Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya

Group B:

India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and Netherlands.

Super Eight :

In 2007 world cup, there was a ‘Super Eight’ phase involving 8 teams who qualified through group stage, and four best teams from ‘Super Eight’ progressed to the semi final. However, there is no super eight phase in 2011 world cup. In stead, top four teams from each group in terms of points achieved will qualify for the quarter final. There are four quarter finals scheduled to take place on 23 March, 24 March, 25 March and 26 March. That means knock out stage starts just after the group stage. Four winners of the four quarter finals will get into the semi final of the tournament. The winners of the semi finals will meet each other in the tournament final at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 2 April 2009.

The probable reason behind the format change is perhaps to ensure that each of the participating teams play at least 6 games even if they fail to qualify for the quarter final. Last year, two test playing nations: India and Pakistan- failed to reach the ‘Super Eight’ round and had to go back home, having played only 2 matches. The early exit of the two cricket powerhouses caused huge loss for the TV channels, sponsors as well as for those who bought time slots for TV commercials beforehand to promote their products. That is why, ICC has now ensured that each of the teams will play at least 6 games in the 2011 tournament.

All the matches of the tournament will be played in the month of February and March, 2011. Schedule of the tournament is as follows:

Saturday 19 Feb – Bangladesh v India, Dhaka
Sunday 20 Feb – New Zealand v Kenya, Chennai
Sunday 20 Feb – Sri Lanka v Canada, Hambantota
Monday 21 Feb – Australia v Zimbabwe, Ahmedabad
Tuesday 22 Feb – England v Netherlands, Nagpur
Wednesday 23 Feb – Pakistan v Kenya, Hambantota
Thursday 24 Feb – South Africa v West Indies, New Delhi
Friday 25 Feb – Australia v New Zealand, Nagpur
Friday 25 Feb – Bangladesh v Ireland, Dhaka
Saturday 26 Feb – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Colombo
Sunday 27 Feb – India v England, Kolkata
Monday 28 Feb – West Indies v Netherlands, New Delhi
Monday 28 Feb – Zimbabwe v Canada, Nagpur
Tuesday 1 Mar – Sri Lanka v Kenya, Colombo
Wednesday 2 Mar – England v Ireland, Bangalore
Thursday 3 Mar – South Africa v Netherlands, Mohali
Thursday 3 Mar – Pakistan v Canada, Colombo
Friday 4 Mar – New Zealand v Zimbabwe, Ahmedabad
Friday 4 Mar – Bangladesh v West Indies, Dhaka
Saturday 5 Mar – Sri Lanka v Australia, Colombo
Sunday 6 Mar – India v Ireland, Bangalore
Sunday 6 Mar – England v South Africa, Chennai
Monday 7 Mar – Kenya v Canada, New Delhi
Tuesday 8 Mar – Pakistan v New Zealand, Pallekele
Wednesday 9 Mar – India v Netherlands, New Delhi
Thursday 10 Mar – Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe, Pallekele
Friday 11 Mar – West Indies v Ireland, Mohali
Friday 11 Mar – Bangladesh v England, Chittagong
Saturday 12 Mar – India v South Africa, Nagpur
Sunday 13 Mar – New Zealand v Canada, Mumbai
Sunday 13 Mar – Australia v Kenya, Bangalore
Monday 14 Mar – Pakistan v Zimbabwe, Pallekele
Monday 14 Mar – Bangladesh v Netherlands, Chittagong
Tuesday 15 Mar – South Africa v Ireland, Kolkata
Wednesday 16 Mar – Australia v Canada, Bangalore
Thursday 17 Mar – England v West Indies, Chennai
Friday 18 Mar – Sri Lanka v New Zealand, Mumbai
Friday 18 Mar – Ireland v Netherlands, Kolkata
Saturday 19 Mar – Australia v Pakistan, Colombo
Saturday 19 Mar – Bangladesh v South Africa, Dhaka
Sunday 20 Mar – Zimbabwe v Kenya, Kolkata
Sunday 20 Mar – India v West Indies, Chennai
Wednesday 23 Mar – First quarter-final, Dhaka
Thursday 24 Mar – Second quarter-final, Colombo
Friday 25 Mar – Third quarter-final, Dhaka
Saturday 26 Mar – Fourth quarter-final, Ahmedabad
Tuesday 29 Mar – First semi-final, Colombo
Wednesday 30 Mar – Second semi-final, Mohali
Saturday 2 April – Final, Mumbai