England face New Zealand in Men’s Cricket World Cup opener on October 5 in repeat of 2019 final | Cricket News
The Men’s Cricket World Cup in India will begin on October 5, with England facing New Zealand in Ahmedabad in a repeat of the 2019 final.
The tournament will conclude at the same venue, where the final is scheduled for November 19.
The fixtures were revealed by the International Cricket Council during an event in Mumbai, less than four months before the start of the 50-over tournament, with the delay partly due to soured political relations between India and Pakistan.
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Ben Stokes was instrumental as England beat New Zealand in an incredible finale to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
India’s refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in August-September triggered the latest dispute between the bitter neighbours, who play each other only in multi-team events.
Pakistan responded by threatening to boycott the World Cup if they were not allowed to stage at least some matches of the Asia Cup on home soil.
The stalemate was finally resolved earlier this month when Pakistan agreed to split matches with Sri Lanka, where India will play their Asia Cup matches.
The arch-rivals will meet in the tournament’s most anticipated match on October 15 – also in Ahmedabad – while hosts India will face off against five-time winners Australia in Chennai on October 8.
England’s opener against New Zealand is a rematch of the 2019 final in which they prevailed via a controversial, and now-scrapped boundary count rule.
The match went to a super over, after Ben Stokes had earlier inadvertently deflected a ball thrown from the field by Martin Guptill for four more runs while diving to make to make it back into the crease.
Watch the second men’s Ashes Test, from Lord’s, live on Sky Sports Cricket from Wednesday. Build-up begins at 10am ahead of the toss at 10.30am and then an 11am start.
