2011 ICC Cricket World Cup

As we all know that nowadays people are very crazy about cricket, especially in India. It is good news for cricket fans that the 10th ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 has started on 19 February 2011 and 3 South Asian Countries are hosting the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup.

The tournament will be played from 19 February to 2 April 2011.

List of Qualified Teams

Fourteen countries have qualified for the 2011 ICC World Cup, which are listed here, in no particular order –

1. Australia.

2. Bangladesh

3. Canada

4. England

5. India

6. Ireland

7. Kenya

8. The Netherlands

9. New Zealand

10. Pakistan

11. South Africa

12. Sri Lanka

13. West Indies

14. Zimbabwe

Competition Format

There are 14 teams competing in the 2011 ICC World Cup. The 14 teams are divided into two groups; Each group consists of 7 teams.

Each team must play 6 matches and to qualify for the quarter-finals a team must win 4 matches. Each team will play a total of six matches.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony will be held in Bangladesh on 17 February 2011. Dhaka Stadium will be the venue for the opening ceremony.

The good news for Indians is that Sachin Tendulkar will be the International Cricket Council 2011 World Cup Ambassador. The first match will be played between Bangladesh and India on February 19 at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka. 

Referee

A total of 18 Referees were selected for the ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup. Within these 18 members five were from Australia, three from England, one from the West Indies and South Africa , six from Asia and two from New Zealand.

The media coverage

The ICC has sold the broadcast rights for the 2011 World Cup to Star Cricket and ESPN Star Sports . It was sold for about two billion US $. The tournament will be broadcast in 220 countries.

Gift:

The winners will receive a trophy and prize money of US $ 3 million. For runners the fee is around 1.5 million US $. The trophy was modeled by Garrard & Co in 1999.