Published in Samaa on May 30th, 2019,
After a long wait, the ICC Cricket World Cup will be kicking off today (Thursday) in England with a match between England and South Africa.
The hosts will take on the Proteas at 2:30pm Pakistan time.
The 10 teams participating in the mega event will be playing 48 matches in 11 different grounds. Instead of dividing the teams into two groups, this time they will be playing in the round robin format. Each team will get the opportunity to play against the rest of the nine teams.
This is Afghanistan’s first time in the World Cup. They will be playing against Pakistan, India, England, the West Indies, Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and defending champions Australia.
The second match of the tournament is between Pakistan and the West Indies, which starts at 2:30pm PST on May 31. The third is between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
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Each team will play nine matches, after which the top four teams on the points table will progress to the semifinals. The final will be held on July 14 at Lords.
Pakistan will be facing England on June 3, Sri Lanka on June 7, Australia on June 12, India on June 16, South Africa on June 23, New Zealand on June 26, Afghanistan on June 29 and Bangladesh on July 5.
An opening party was held on Wednesday to mark the start of the World Cup.