Edgbaston and Birmingham awarded marquee programme for ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

Birmingham has been awarded five of the biggest fixtures in next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales, with the city’s Edgbaston Stadium playing host to four marquee group games and a semi-final.

Staged between 30 May and 14 July, the 10-team, 48-game ICC Cricket World Cup will get underway in Birmingham on Wednesday 19 June when 2015 finalists New Zealand take on South Africa. New Zealand return to Edgbaston a week later to face Pakistan on 26 June, before the England team arrive to take on 2011 champions India on Sunday 30 June.

India play a second game at Edgbaston against Bangladesh on Tuesday 2 July in the penultimate round of group games, with the second of the semi-finals being played in Birmingham on Thursday 11 July.

Neil Snowball, Chief Executive of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, said:

There’s no bigger tournament in the game than the ICC Cricket World Cup and next year will be the first time that it’s been hosted in England and Wales for 20 years.

 

Edgbaston as a stadium, and Birmingham as a city, have both experienced major redevelopment since the 1999 tournament and we are now one of the best equipped and most experienced destinations in the United Kingdom to host global sporting events. These five games will be tremendous occasions that will be celebrated across the city, particularly England’s game against India, which is one of the headline games of the tournament.

 

As hosts, England have a great record and love playing at ‘Fortress Edgbaston’, having won their last seven games in Birmingham across all three formats. However, it was India who took the spoils in the last meeting between the nations in an ICC global event in Birmingham, by securing the ICC Champions Trophy in the 2013 final by just five runs. We’re very excited to play such an important role in, what will be, a momentous period for cricket in England and Wales.

Edgbaston hosted three games in the 1999 ICC Cricket World, including the legendary tied semi-final between Australia and South Africa, but it also played a lead role in both recent ICC Champions Trophy tournaments, in 2013 and 2017.

Steve Hollingworth, Service Director for Sport at Birmingham City Council, said:

We have a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable cricket audience here in Birmingham, it’s great that we continue to attract international cricket to the city at the Edgbaston Stadium. Events like the ICC Cricket World Cup showcase the best of Birmingham to a global audience.

Hosts England will open the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup by facing South Africa at The Oval in London, on Thursday 30 May.

The tournament will then be played across 11 England and Wales cricket venues, including Edgbaston, each of the 10 teams will play each other in in the group stages, with the four teams that top the groups progressing to the semi-final and subsequently the final at Lord’s, London, on Sunday 14 July.

Speaking about yesterday’s announcement, Steve Elworthy, Managing Director of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, said:

Today’s announcement of the schedule is another important moment in the build-up to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 – the moment that the tournament comes to life for teams and cricket lovers across the world. This is the flagship event in one day cricket.

 

There are some fantastic head to head fixtures at Edgbaston – England v India immediately springs to mind. As organisers we can promise the teams and fans we will work hard with Edgbaston to provide the perfect stage for this event. Because of the UK’s diverse population, every competing team will also be guaranteed a ‘home crowd’ every time they play at some of the most iconic cricket grounds in the world.

 

The Cricket World Cup is the third most watched global event and has huge interest and appeal amongst cricket fans. Our ambition is to grow the game and deliver the greatest ever cricket celebration and with that in mind we have very carefully developed our ticket prices. The prices have been tested with thousands of fans over the last six months, we have used external experts and consulted widely to ensure that they are good value vs other global sporting events. The prices balance accessibility with delivering the investment required to deliver a world class event. All revenue is invested back in the game to grow cricket.

Source & images, courtesy: Edgbaston Stadium/Warwickshire CCC

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