Three India cities to host official World Cup warm-up fixtures; each team gets 2 matches
THE OFFICIAL warm-up fixtures for this year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in India have been announced.
The 10 teams will each play two official 50-over contests during the week leading up to the start of the World Cup on October 5, with matches to be held in three different cities across India, an article on icc-cricket.com said.
The matches will be held in Guwahati, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram between Friday 29 September and Tuesday 3 October and will provide teams with the perfect opportunity to acclimatise to the conditions they are expected to face during the World Cup.
On the opening day of warm-up fixtures Bangladesh will take on Sri Lanka in Guwahati, South Africa will tackle Afghanistan in Thiruvananthapuram and New Zealand will face Pakistan in Hyderabad.
Hosts India will battle it out against reigning champions England the following day in Guwahati, while five-time winners Australia will be looking for some valuable practice when they play the Netherlands in Thiruvananthapuram on the same day.
All games will commence at 2:00pm IST and teams will be allowed to field all members of their 15-player squads during the matches, the article added.
World Cup warm-up fixtures:
Friday 29 September
- Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
- South Africa v Afghanistan, Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
- New Zealand v Pakistan, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
Saturday 30 September
- India v England, Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
- Australia v Netherlands, Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Monday 2 October
- England v Bangladesh, Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
- New Zealand v South Africa, Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Tuesday 3 October
- Afghanistan v Sri Lanka, Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati
- India v Netherlands, Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
- Pakistan v Australia, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad
