The 2023 Cricket World Cup is under way with hosts India recovering from an early batting collapse to secure victory over Australia in their opening match of the tournament.
Chasing just 200 to win after bowling Australia out for 199 inside 50 overs, India were reduced to two for three before Virat Kohli (85) and KL Rahul (97 not out) steadied the ship and put on a 165-run partnership to help steer the hosts to a six-wicket win.
England’s defence of their crown got off to the worst possible start when they suffered a nine-wicket hammering at the hands of New Zealand. They got back on track on Tuesday, however, with a convincing 137-run victory over Bangladesh, thanks in the main to Dawid Malan’s 140 from 107 balls.Â
In the UK the 2023 World Cup is being broadcast live on Sky Sports Cricket.Â
There is also a daily highlights package shown at 7pm on Channel 5, which is free to air. That same highlights programme is available to watch back on Channel 5’s on-demand platform, My5.Â
This World Cup was originally slated for the spring of 2023, but the coronavirus pandemic messed up calendars, prompting the ICC to push it back by six months. England’s fixtures are in bold.
Round-robin group stage
Oct 5: New Zealand (283-1) beat England (282-9) by nine wicketsOct 6: Pakistan (286) beat Netherlands (205) by 81 runsOct 7: Bangladesh (158-4) beat Afghanistan (156) by six wicketsOct 7: South Africa (428-5) beat Sri Lanka (326) by 102 runsOct 8: India (201-4) beat Australia (199) by six wicketsOct 9: New Zealand (322-7) beat Netherlands (223) by 99 runsOct 10: England (364-9) beat Bangladesh (227) by 137 runsOct 10: Pakistan (345-4) beat Sri Lanka (344-9) by six wicketsToday: India v Afghanistan – Delhi (09:30 UK time)Oct 12: Australia v South Africa – Lucknow (09:30 UK time)Oct 13: New Zealand v Bangladesh – Chennai (09:30 UK time)Oct 14: India v Pakistan – Ahmedabad (09:30 UK time)Oct 15: England v Afghanistan – Delhi (09:30 UK time)Oct 16: Australia v Sri Lanka – Lucknow (09:30 UK time)Oct 17: South Africa v Netherlands – Dharamsala (09:30 UK time)Oct 18: New Zealand v Afghanistan – Chennai (09:30 UK time)Oct 19: India v Bangladesh – Pune (09:30 UK time)Oct 20: Australia v Pakistan – Bengaluru (09:30 UK time)Oct 21: Netherlands v Sri Lanka – Lucknow (06:00 UK time)Oct 21: England v South Africa – Mumbai (09:30 UK time)Oct 22: India v New Zealand – Dharamsala (09:30 UK time)Oct 23: Pakistan v Afghanistan – Chennai (09:30 UK time)Oct 24: South Africa v Bangladesh – Mumbai (09:30 UK time)Oct 25: Australia v Netherlands – Delhi (09:30 UK time)Oct 26: England v Sri Lanka – Bengaluru (09:30 UK time)Oct 27: Pakistan v South Africa – Chennai (09:30 UK time)Oct 28: Netherlands v Bangladesh – Kolkata (09:30 UK time)Oct 28: Australia v New Zealand – Dharamsala (06:00 UK time)Oct 29: India v England – Lucknow (08:30 UK time)Oct 30: Afghanistan v Sri Lanka – Pune (08:30 UK time)Oct 31: Pakistan v Bangladesh – Kolkata (08:30 UK time)Nov 1: New Zealand v South Africa – Pune (08:30 UK time)Nov 2: India v Sri Lanka – Mumbai (08:30 UK time)Nov 3: Netherlands v Afghanistan – Lucknow (08:30 UK time)Nov 4: New Zealand v Pakistan – Bengaluru (05:00 UK time)Nov 4: England v Australia – Ahmedebad (08:30 UK time)Nov 5: India v South Africa – Kolkata (08:30 UK time)Nov 6: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka – Delhi (08:30 UK time)Nov 7: Australia v Afghanistan – Mumbai (08:30 UK time)Nov 8: England v Netherlands – Pune (08:30 UK time)Nov 9: New Zealand v Sri Lanka – Bengaluru (08:30 UK time)Nov 10: South Africa v Afghanistan – Ahmedabad (08:30 UK time)Nov 11: Australia v Bangladesh – Pune (05:00 UK time)Nov 11: England v Pakistan – Kolkata (08:30 UK time)Nov 12: India v Netherlands – Bengaluru (08:30 UK time)
Knockout stages
Nov 15: Semi-final 1, (First plays fourth) – Mumbai (08:30 UK time)Nov 16: Semi-final 2, (Second plays third) – Kolkata (08:30 UK time)Nov 19: Final – Ahmedabad (08:30 UK time)
Who is hosting the World Cup?
India are hosting the tournament despite a tit-for-tat dispute with Pakistan about tournament boycotts. India had threatened to boycott the Pakistan-hosted Asia Cup in September. In retaliation, Pakistan threated to boycott the India-hosted World Cup. That dispute was resolved by sharing the Asia Cup hosting rights between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India’s games were all played in Sri Lanka.
At the World Cup, however, Pakistan will be playing in India. The round-robin match between the two sides will be held in Ahmedabad on Oct 14.
Who is taking part?
Only 10 teams are playing at the tournament. They are: India, who qualified automatically as the hosts, New Zealand, England, Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and South Africa, all of whom qualified based on their results in ODI cricket since the 2019 World Cup, and Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, who earned their place via a qualifying tournament this year.Â
Among the teams who failed to qualify are previous World Cup winners West Indies, plus Ireland and Zimbabwe.
What is the format for the World Cup?
The 2023 edition follows the schedule used at the 2019 edition: a round-robin stage, followed by semi-finals and a final. In the round-robin all 10 teams will play each other once. A victory will be worth two points and a tie or no result will be worth one point. The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals, with the top-ranked team against the fourth-ranked team, and the second- and third-placed teams against each other.
The boundary countback rule, on the basis of which England won the 2019 World Cup final, has been dropped. From now on, if teams are tied in a knockout game and still tied after a super over, they will continue to play super overs until a winner is found.Â