2019 Cricket World Cup

The 2019 Cricket World Cup (officially ICC Cricket World Cup 2019) is the 12th edition of the Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be hosted by England and Wales, from 30 May to 14 July 2019.

Qualification

The 2019 World Cup will feature 10 teams, a decrease from previous World Cups in 2011 and 2015 which featured 14 teams.^[5]^[6] The hosts, England, and the top seven other teams in the ICC One Day International rankings as of 30 September 2017 earned automatic qualification, with the remaining two spots being decided by the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

At the time of the announcement of the qualification structure, ICC Associate and Affiliate members, who were guaranteed four spots in the previous two World Cup tournaments, could be represented by at most two teams, and possibly none at all if they were beaten by the lowest ranked Full Members in the Qualifier.^[7] It also meant that at least two of the 10 Test playing nations at the time of the announcement would have to play in the qualifying tournament, and could possibly miss the World Cup finals entirely.

Following recent success, Ireland and Afghanistan were promoted into the ICC ODI Championship and have also since been promoted to full members of the ICC, becoming the newest Test cricketing nations. However, they will still need to qualify for the World Cup via the current process.

Afghanistan won the qualifying tournament defeating the West Indies in the final. Both teams qualified for the World Cup, while Zimbabwe despite hosting the qualifying tournament failed to reach the final and will miss the World Cup for the first time since 1983.^[8] Recently appointed full member Ireland will also miss the World Cup for the first time since 2007 and for the first time ever no Associate nation will be participating in the World Cup.

Means of qualification	Date	Venue	Berths	Qualified^[10]
Host nation	30 September 2006^[11]		1	England
ICC ODI Championship	30 September 2017		7	Australia Bangladesh India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka
2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier	23 March 2018	Zimbabwe	2	Afghanistan West Indies
Total			10

Venues

Venue	City	County team	Capacity
Edgbaston Cricket Ground	Birmingham	Warwickshire	25,000
County Cricket Ground	Bristol	Gloucestershire	17,500
Sophia Gardens	Cardiff	Glamorgan	15,643
Riverside Ground	Chester-le-Street	Durham	20,000
Headingley	Leeds	Yorkshire	17,500
Lord's	London	Middlesex	28,000
The Oval	London	Surrey	25,500
Old Trafford	Manchester	Lancashire	26,000
Trent Bridge	Nottingham	Nottinghamshire	17,500
Rose Bowl	Southampton	Hampshire	25,000
County Ground	Taunton	Somerset	12,500
London Stadium	London	None	66,000

The fixture list for this event will be released following the completions of the qualifiers. However, on 17 December 2014, the ECB indicated that the final would be held at Lord's, and the semi-finals at Old Trafford and Edgbaston Cricket Ground. In addition, the opening match of the tournament will be held at The Oval.

London Stadium could also be added to the list of venues pending the result of a feasibility test. In January 2017, the International Cricket Council (ICC) completed an inspection of the ground, confirming that the pitch dimensions would be compliant with the requirements to host ODI matches.

Group stage

The format for the group stage is to have all ten teams play each other in a single group. This means a total of 45 matches will be played with each team playing a total of nine matches. The top four teams from the group will then progress to the knockout stage. A similar format was previously used in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.