2011 World Cup Fixture

[Russian]

Surprisingly not at all India-centric. They start with the tournament opener in Bangladesh before playing the rest in all parts of India - down the river to Kolkata in the east, then to Bangalore in the south, Delhi in the north, Nagpur in the middle, then back down south to Chennai. They're also one of only two sides with back to back minimum 3 day breaks between games. Bangladesh are the only side who play all their games at home and are involved in every game in Bangladesh, the first neutral game there will be in the quarter finals. Sri Lanka for some reason play their final game against New Zealand in Mumbai . Apart from Bangladesh, Pakistan are the only team who don't play a group game in India, playing all their games in Sri Lanka. If Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan aren't playing, the game's in India, meaning everyone else plays there, and with Bangladesh and Pakistan playing all their games outside India and everyone having to play one of them, everyone makes at least one trip outside India. Nobody has to go to a 3rd country until the quarters. Australia are the other team with back-to-back 3 day breaks, which may be their biggest challenge in a pretty ordinary group - not the worst sort of back-to-back short breaks with the first 2 games in Bangalore (against the two qualifiers), which is not too far from Colombo where the third game is.

Here's each team's schedule, the full schedule is at Cricinfo

Australia
Mon Feb 21 v Zimbabwe @ Ahmedabad, India
Fri Feb 25 v New Zealand @ Nagpur, India
Sat Mar 5 v Sri Lanka @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sun Mar 13 v Kenya @ Bangalore, India
Wed Mar 16 v Canada @ Bangalore, India
Sat Mar 19 v Pakistan @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
Bangladesh
Sat Feb 19 v India @ Mirpur, Bangladesh
Fri Feb 25 v Ireland @ Mirpur, Bangladesh
Fri Mar 4 v West Indies @ Mirpur, Bangladesh
Fri Mar 11 v England @ Chittagong, Bangladesh
Mon Mar 14 v Netherlands @ Chittagong, Bangladesh
Sat Mar 19 v South Africa @ Mirpur, Bangladesh
Canada
Sun Feb 20 v Sri Lanka @ Hanbantota, Sri Lanka
Mon Feb 28 v Zimbabwe @ Nagpur, India
Thu Mar 3 v Pakistan @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
Mon Mar 7 v Kenya @ Delhi, India
Sun Mar 13 v New Zealand @ Mumbai, India
Wed Mar 16 v Australia @ Bangalore, India
England
Tue Feb 22 v Netherlands @ Nagpur, India
Sun Feb 27 v India @ Kolkata, India
Wed Mar 2 v Ireland @ Bangalore, India
Sun Mar 6 v South Africa @ Chennai, India
Fri Mar 11 v Bangladesh @ Chittagong, Bangladesh
Thu Mar 17 v West Indies @ Chennai, India
India
Sat Feb 19 v Bangladesh @ Mirpur, Bangladesh
Sun Feb 27 v England @ Kolkata, India
Sun Mar 6 v Ireland @ Bangalore, India
Wed Mar 9 v Netherlands @ Delhi, India
Sat Mar 12 v South Africa @ Nagpur, India
Sun Mar 20 v West Indies @ Chennai, India
Ireland
Fri Feb 25 v Bangladesh @ Mirpur, Bangladesh
Wed Mar 2 v England @ Bangalore, India
Sun Mar 6 v India @ Bangalore, India
Fri Mar 11 v West Indies @ Mohali, India
Tue Mar 15 v South Africa @ Kolkata, India
Fri Mar 18 v Netherlands @ Kolkata, India
Kenya
Sun Feb 20 v New Zealand @ Chennai, India
Wed Feb 23 v Pakistan @ Hanbantota, Sri Lanka
Tue Mar 1 v Sri Lanka @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
Mon Mar 7 v Canada @ Delhi, India
Sun Mar 13 v Australia @ Bangalore, India
Sun Mar 20 v Zimbabwe @ Kolkata, India
Netherlands
Tue Feb 22 v England @ Nagpur, India
Mon Feb 28 v West Indies @ Delhi, India
Thu Mar 3 v South Africa @ Mohali, India
Wed Mar 9 v India @ Delhi, India
Mon Mar 14 v Bangladesh @ Chittagong, Bangladesh
Fri Mar 18 v Ireland @ Kolkata, India
New Zealand
Sun Feb 20 v Kenya @ Chennai, India
Fri Feb 25 v Australia @ Nagpur, India
Fri Mar 4 v Zimbabwe @ Ahmedabad, India
Tue Mar 8 v Pakistan @ Pallekele, Sri Lanka
Sun Mar 13 v Canada @ Mumbai, India
Fri Mar 18 v Sri Lanka @ Mumbai, India
Pakistan
Wed Feb 23 v Kenya @ Hanbantota, Sri Lanka
Sat Feb 26 v Sri Lanka @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
Thu Mar 3 v Canada @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
Tue Mar 8 v New Zealand @ Pallekele, Sri Lanka
Mon Mar 14 v Zimbabwe @ Pallekele, Sri Lanka
Sat Mar 19 v Australia @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
South Africa
Thu Feb 24 v West Indies @ Delhi, India
Thu Mar 3 v Netherlands @ Mohali, India
Sun Mar 6 v England @ Chennai, India
Sat Mar 12 v India @ Nagpur, India
Tue Mar 15 v Ireland @ Kolkata, India
Sat Mar 19 v Bangladesh @ Mirpur, Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Sun Feb 20 v Canada @ Hanbantota, Sri Lanka
Sat Feb 26 v Pakistan @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
Tue Mar 1 v Kenya @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sat Mar 5 v Australia @ RPS Colombo, Sri Lanka
Thu Mar 10 v Zimbabwe @ Pallekele, Sri Lanka
Fri Mar 18 v New Zealand @ Mumbai, India
West Indies
Thu Feb 24 v South Africa @ Delhi, India
Mon Feb 28 v Netherlands @ Delhi, India
Fri Mar 4 v Bangladesh @ Mirpur, Bangladesh
Fri Mar 11 v Ireland @ Mohali, India
Thu Mar 17 v England @ Chennai, India
Sun Mar 20 v India @ Chennai, India
Zimbabwe
Mon Feb 21 v Australia @ Ahmedabad, India
Mon Feb 28 v Canada @ Nagpur, India
Fri Mar 4 v New Zealand @ Ahmedabad, India
Thu Mar 10 v Sri Lanka @ Pallekele, Sri Lanka
Mon Mar 14 v Pakistan @ Pallekele, Sri Lanka
Sun Mar 20 v Kenya @ Kolkata, India

 

[evdo1706]

My 2 cents. The final will be in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai which is under major renovation now. Here is a video by Mid-Day(a tabloid in Mumbai) about the renovation plans and design. Looks good---

[YOUTUBE]IybSJapTTMA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Cousin Jed]

4,8,8,3,3

love the consistency in the gaps there

 

[Ron]

Looks like another long world cup. Over a month to do the group stages, plus then the finals.

 

[Kram]

Quarter final format again, what a joke..

 

[legend166]

How dumb are they? Surely they realised after the last one that stretching the thing out for about 10 years didn't work?

 

[Cousin Jed]

That's why its straight to sudden death after the group stage and the super 6/8 is gone.

 

[justin75]

Damn I love the whole world cup but really over a month and a bit is bordering ridiclious...

 

[alfy!]

Looks like another long world cup. Over a month to do the group stages, plus then the finals.

Much too long, isn't it.

 

[mattys123]

Surely with 14 teams in the tournament, it would make sense for the top 8 teams to go through to the 2nd round, and then start a straight elimination tourney from there, just like the Soccer World Cup does, and the Rugby World Cup does.

The super 6's and then semi final idea is just stupid, and will once again drag the tournament out longer then needed, making people once again state that one day cricket is dying, which it wouldn't be doing if it's 4 yearly showpiece was organised properly.

Great job ICC, screwed the pooch again on this one.

 

[Russian]

Surely with 14 teams in the tournament, it would make sense for the top 8 teams to go through to the 2nd round, and then start a straight elimination tourney from there, just like the Soccer World Cup does, and the Rugby World Cup does.

That's exactly what they're doing

 

[The Master88]

Damn I love the whole world cup but really over a month and a bit is bordering ridiclious...

Back at the 2003 world cup people where angry that there were no back up days for games affected by rain

At the 2007 world cup they had back up days for rain and people where angry that it went for too long

I will take a longer world cup with back up days then a shorter one without

 

[Kram]

That's exactly what they're doing

They are reviving this quarter finals setup to make sure that the hosts at least make the knock out stage even if they choke.

$$$.

 

[Marklar_33]

They are reviving this quarter finals setup to make sure that the hosts at least make the knock out stage even if they choke.

$$$.

The same number of teams will make the finals of this World Cup as did during the last World Cup...

My 2 cents involves going to 3 groups of 5 and reviving the Super 6... Then each nation would play 4 group games and those that make it 4 Super 6 games. Whether the top 2,3 or 4 go through after the Super 6, I dont care but this would bring down the timespan of the event and keep the relevant matches at the end

 

[damochandler]

so we should book our tickets for the final you reckon

 

[Ricketts]

How many groups are there to begin with? And which teams are in which group?

 

[Cleavy]

How many groups are there to begin with? And which teams are in which group?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Cricket_World_Cup#Group_Stage

 

[Ricketts]

Should just be an 8 team World Cup. We know which 8 are going to qualify for the quarter-finals.

 

[The Master88]

Should just be an 8 team World Cup. We know which 8 are going to qualify for the quarter-finals.

You could have said the same thing at the 2007 world cup and look what happened.

 

[damochandler]

Should just be an 8 team World Cup. We know which 8 are going to qualify for the quarter-finals.

yeah that would be great. it would cut the tournement short. all nations would have to play each other like the 92 world cup and the to 4 teams would go straight into the semi finals

 

[Ricketts]

You could have said the same thing at the 2007 world cup and look what happened.

True. And whilst it would be funny again seeing India and Pakistan out in the early stages, having a Bangladesh/Ireland/Kenya make it through to the knockout stages is a waste of time and lowers the value of the tournament.

 

[frankc]

Thank God they have got rid of this super eight crap.

 

[pluga_4]

Should just be an 8 team World Cup. We know which 8 are going to qualify for the quarter-finals.

then there would be no point of the champions trophy. the big 8 only qualify and play in the champions trophy.

we've had teams outside the big 8 progress, but they do make up the numbers in that second stage.

1999 - zimbabwe (made the super 6)
2003 - kenya (made the semi final )
2007 - bangladesh and ireland (made the super 8)

 

[Russian]

then there would be no point of the champions trophy.

Oh dear

Bring back the knockout with the top 16 teams (1 v 16, 2 v 15, etc). Anyone who wins in the first round goes to the World Cup, plus the top 2 ranked losers to make it 10.

 

[pluga_4]

Oh dear

Bring back the knockout with the top 16 teams (1 v 16, 2 v 15, etc). Anyone who wins in the first round goes to the World Cup, plus the top 2 ranked losers to make it 10.

don't get me wrong the champions trophy is a waste of space.

but the knockout concept you have suggested has its flaws, because of costs (no team will tour for one match) and also teams 1 and 2 wouldn't be serious or send a second string team for the knockout game as they are guaranteed to progress.

why can't we use the odi rankings to our advantage and use a cut off date and take the "top 6" to the world cup where everyone plays everyone once.
2v3 in a semi and 1 going straight to the final (using kfc big bash model).
this would ensure "the big 8" fight hard for a world cup spot and the minnows less likely to make it (meaning all meaningful matches).