Story ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 - The Cup that Counts

[shantanu_rooney]

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, India-Sri Lanka-Bangladesh

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 will be the tenth Cricket World Cup and will be hosted by three South Asian Test playing nations: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It will be Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a Cricket World Cup, while India and Sri Lanka have already hosted the World Cup back in 1996. The World Cup will use cricket's One Day International format, with fourteen national cricket teams scheduled to compete. The World Cup will take place between February and early April 2011, with the first match to be played on 19 February 2011 with co-hosts India and Bangladesh facing off at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka. The opening ceremony will be held on 17 February 2011, two days before the start of the tournament.

Format
The host nations agreed upon a revised format for the 2011 World Cup identical to the 1996 World Cup, the only change being the no. of teams as it was 12 in 1996 and 14 in 2011. The first round of the tournament will be a round-robin in which the 14 teams are divided into 2 groups of 7 teams each. The 7 teams play each other once with the top 4 from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals. The format ensures that each team gets to play a minimum of 6 matches even if they are ruled out of the tournament due to early defeats.

Teams and Groups
As per ICC regulations, all 10 full members automatically qualify for the World Cup, including Zimbabwe.The ICC also organised a qualifying tournament in South Africa to determine which Associate teams would participate in 2011 event. Ireland, who had been the best performing Associate nation since the last World Cup, won the tournament, beating Canada in the final. The Netherlands and Kenya also qualified by virtue of finishing third and fourth respectively. The 14 teams have been divided in 2 groups of 7 as follows:

Group A
Australia

Canada

Kenya

New Zealand

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe

Group B
Bangladesh

England

India

Ireland

Netherlands

South Africa

West Indies

 

[just_cricket]

Great start. Your stories are always nicely presented and easy to read.

Hopefully you can get a decent way through this one, though!

 

[Roofrom50]

Good to see you back shantanu_rooney, loved your stories back in the old days, and i am now looking forward to this world cup competition. Should be a interesting read.

 

[Gaurav_7]

Hopefully you can get a decent way through this one, though!

Yeah, ha ha. Shan, I'd love this one to go well. Why don't you use some game? Would make a fantastic one.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

ICC World Cup 2011 Schedule

Co-hosts India and Bangladesh will contest the opening game of the 2011 World Cup in Mirpur on February 19. The first game in Sri Lanka will feature the hosts taking on Canada in Hambantota on February 20. Pakistan are playing all six of their group matches in Sri Lnaka, which is hosting a total of 12 games.

The tournament in India, which is hosting 29 games in all, will kick off with New Zealand playing Kenya in Chennai on February 20. India's first home game is against England in Kolkata on February 27 and they also play their remaining four group games at home. Defending champions Australia begin their campaign against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad on February 21.

The quarter-finals will be played in Dhaka on March 23 and 25, in Colombo on March 24 and in Ahmedabad on March 26 while the two semi-finals will be played in Colombo and Mohali on March 29 and 30. The renovated Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai will host the final on April 2.

A total of 13 venues across three countries will be used over the 43-day tournament, which is a week shorter than the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.


Group A Fixtures

20/2 - New Zealand v Kenya @ Chennai
20/2 - Sri Lanka v Canada @ Hambantota
21/2 - Australia v Zimbabwe @ Ahmedabad
23/2 - Pakistan v Kenya @ Hambantota
25/2 - New Zealand v Australia @ Nagpur
26/2 - Sri Lanka v Pakistan @ Colombo
28/2 - Zimbabwe v Canada @ Nagpur
01/3 - Sri Lanka v Kenya @ Colombo
03/3 - Pakistan v Canada @ Colombo
04/3 - New Zealand v Zimbabwe @ Ahmedabad
05/3 - Sri Lanka v Australia @ Colombo
07/3 - Kenya v Canada @ Delhi
08/3 - Pakistan v New Zealand @ Kandy
10/3 - Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe @ Kandy
13/3 - New Zealand v Canada @ Mumbai
13/3 - Australia v Kenya @ Bengaluru
14/3 - Pakistan v Zimbabwe @ Kandy
16/3 - Australia v Canada @ Bengaluru
18/3 - Sri Lanka v New Zealand @ Mumbai
19/3 - Pakistan v Australia @ Colombo
20/3 - Zimbabwe v Kenya @ Kolkata


Group B Fixtures

19/2 - India v Bangladesh @ Mirpur
22/2 - England v Netherlands @ Nagpur
24/2 - South Africa v West Indies @ Delhi
25/2 - Bangladesh v Ireland @ Mirpur
27/2 - India v England @ Kolkata
28/2 - West Indies v Netherlands @ Delhi
02/3 - England v Ireland @ Bengaluru
03/3 - South Africa v Netherlands @ Mohali
04/3 - Bangladesh v West Indies @ Mirpur
06/3 - India v Ireland @ Bengaluru
06/3 - England v South Africa @ Chennai
09/3 - India v Netherlands @ Delhi
11/3 - Ireland v West Indies @ Mohali
11/3 - Bangladesh v England @ Chittagong
12/3 - India v South Africa @ Nagpur
14/3 - Bangladesh v Netherlands @ Chittagong
15/3 - South Africa v Ireland @ Kolkata
17/3 - England v West Indies @ Chennai
18/3 - Ireland v Netherlands @ Kolkata
19/3 - Bangladesh v South Africa @ Mirpur
20/3 - India v West Indies @ Chennai


Quarter-Finals

23/3 - Group A1 v Group B4 @ Mirpur
24/3 - Group A2 v Group B3 @ Colombo
25/3 - Group A3 v Group B2 @ Mirpur
26/3 - Group A4 v Group B1 @ Ahmedabad


Semi-Finals

29/3 - Winner of QF1 v Winner of QF3 @ Colombo
30/3 - Winner of QF2 v Winner of QF4 @ Mohali


Final

02/4 - Winner of SF1 v Winnner of SF2 @ Mumbai

 

[Dutchmen]

which sim are you using mate to run this story?

 

[Roofrom50]

Australia to win the World Cup

 

[shantanu_rooney]

ESPN STAR Sports geared up for ICC World Cup 2011

ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), Asia’s number one sports broadcaster & ICC’s global Broadcast & Production Partner, today shared grand plans to make the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 presentation truly entertaining and engaging at a press conference in New Delhi.

The conference was attended by Sharad Pawar - ICC President, Manu Sawhney - managing director ESPN STAR Sports & Cricket legends – Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Sir Vivian Richards & Arjuna Ranatunga along with ESPN STAR Sports presenter Alan Wilkins.

The 2011 edition of the iconic tournament will see many first of its kind initiatives such as Live match coverage by 3G mobile streaming in India. With this new initiative, fans will enjoy an unrestricted access to the biggest cricket spectacle on internet and mobile besides television. First time ever production of the ICC Cricket World Cup in the High Definition (HD) format will be another landmark in cricket presentation.

The pre and post-match shows will be hosted in ESPN STAR Sports’ signature style by iconic ex-players and legends of the game, while live broadcast will feature as many as 30 commentators & studio experts from leading participating countries. ESPN, STAR Sports & STAR Cricket will telecast all the 49 matches of the ICC World Cup 2011 starting on February 19, 2011. In addition, 37 matches will be simultaneously telecast in Hindi on STAR Sports.

 

[Roofrom50]

Big franchises ready for the big stage. Get stuck into it already, i look forward to it