Kevin Naughton, at Indaily, 30 August 2013,
Adelaide Oval will host four matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, including a quarter final. If Australia qualifies for the quarter final, its match is guaranteed to be played in Adelaide. The draw – released today by the International Cricket Council – has India playing its opening match in the tournament in Adelaide against their traditional rivals Pakistan on Sunday February 15, 2015.India will also use Adelaide as its home base for the warm-up matches.
Melbourne will host the day-night final of the World Cup at the MCG on 29 March 2015. The semi-finals for the tournament, to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, will be played at Auckland’s Eden Park on March 24 and at the Sydney Cricket Ground on March 26.
The tournament, which features 49 matches over 44 days with 26 games in Australia, opens with a clash between New Zealand and Sri Lanka on February 14 in Christchurch. Australia are included in Pool A with co-hosts New Zealand plus England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and two qualifiers. Pool B contains South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and a qualifier.
The 14 host cities are Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra, Christchurch, Dunedin, Napier, Nelson, Hamilton, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Wellington.
The top four teams in each pool will contest the quarter-finals. Every team in the tournament will play pool matches in both countries. Should Australia make the semi-finals, they will play that match at the SCG unless they come up against New Zealand, in which case the team finishing higher in the pool stage will have home ground advantage.
India are the defending champions. Pakistan won the tournament when it was last staged in Australia and New Zealand in 1992. The draw has India playing its opening match in the tournament in Adelaide against their traditional rivals Pakistan on Sunday 16 February 2015.
ICC Cricket World Cup Local Organising Committee Chief Executive John Harnden said the redeveloped Adelaide Oval and the state’s range of tourist attractions made it an ideal host city. “Adelaide Oval is famous throughout the cricket world,” Harnden said. “With its capacity increased to more than 50,000 and new world class spectator facilities, it is a great stage on which to play some of the biggest matches in the tournament come 2015. We look forward to continuing to work with the South Australian Government, the Tourism Commission and the South Australian Cricket Association to promote the tournament, the city and the State across Australia and New Zealand and around the world.”
The Chief Executive of the South Australian Cricket Association, Keith Bradshaw, said the allocation of some of best matches was a great reward for patient South Australian cricket fans that will be enjoying their first cricket season at a redeveloped Adelaide Oval. “The colour and excitement of a Team India at a World Cup will leave a lasting legacy for cricket and our focus on India acknowledges the importance of this emerging market.”
Premier Jay Weatherill said that Adelaide would never have a better opportunity to showcase the city and state to a world audience. “The Cricket World Cup is considered to be the third biggest sporting event in the world behind the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup,” Weatherill said. “The Government, through the South Australian Tourism Commission, had a specific strategy in bidding for a schedule that would guarantee the maximum exposure for Adelaide and South Australia. What has been announced today exactly matches that strategy because not only will India be playing their first match on the opening weekend of the tournament in Adelaide, but they will based here for a week prior to that game playing warm-up matches, including one against Australia.
“It gives South Australia an outstanding opportunity to get significant leverage into India. The SATC will use the event to market the state as a tourism destination and other agencies will use the focus on Adelaide to highlight business and trade opportunities.”
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 runs from 14 February 2015 – 28 March 2015. Adelaide’s matches at Adelaide Oval are scheduled to be: Australia v India – warm-up match – Sunday, 8 February 2015 India v qualifier – warm-up match – Thursday, 12 February 2015 India v Pakistan – pool match – Sunday, 15 February 2015 England v Bangladesh – pool match – Monday, 9 March 2015 Pakistan v qualifier – pool match – Saturday, 15 March 2015 Australia* v TBC – Quarter Final – Friday, 20 March 2015 (*In the event Australia qualifies for the knock out stage).
Australia open their campaign at the MCG against England on February 14. Their other pool matches are v Bangladesh at the Gabba on February 21, v New Zealand at Eden Park on February 28, v qualifier 2 at the WACA on March 4, v Sri Lanka at the SCG on March 8 and v qualifier 3 at Bellerive Oval on March 14.