Ireland Cricket Team got the chance to qualify for the next round of ICC world cup

Stage is all set for the Ireland cricket team to make a mark in the world cricket. The team made a perfect start of the world cup by beating West Indies cricket team by 4 wickets. So far Ireland is the only team in world cup 2015 to chase a 300+ target successfully. Now they are playing against UAE and are in control of the game as they have already got 4 wicket bowling first. Current scorebard as you can see above says United Arab Emirates 106 for loss of 4 wickets in 28 overs. Now if they can restrict the UAE team to somewhere around 250 to 280, then the Ireland team has a chance to earn 2 more points and this means they will move to the top of points table below the defending champions India.

If Ireland wins today they can dream of qualifying for the quarter finals for the first time. After today's game Ireland will left with another 4 matches to play in the world cup and they need to win a minimum of 2 matches to qualify for the quarter finals.  Here is the details of world cup matches for Ireland:

• Ireland v West Indies at Nelson - Feb 16, 2015 - Ireland won by 4 wickets
• Ireland v United Arab Emirates at Brisbane - Feb 25, 2015 - Match being played today - Current score at the live scoreboard widget at top of the blog
• Ireland v South Africa at Canberra - Mar 3, 2015
• Ireland v Zimbabwe at Hobart - Mar 7, 2015
• India v Ireland at Hamilton - Mar 10, 2015
• Ireland v Pakistan at Adelaide - Mar 15, 2015

If Ireland manage to beat Zimbabwe, then the last match for the team which is also the last match of the group stage can be a virtual knock out game for them. The match against Pakistan if they manage to win it, definitely the team will qualify for the quarter finals. 

Lets first hope that Ireland win the world cup match today. Good luck to the team for today and remaining of the world cup matches. 

Bangladesh Cricket Team has something to prove this World Cup

Bangladesh cricket team has developed a lot, the team performance has improved but they are yet to prove something to the fans and the world. This nation has yet to win any major ICC event or event made it to final or semi finals. It was only in the 2007 world cup that they defeated India in group stage to reach super eights and then defeat South Africa.

However after that the team is still to show the cricketing skills the team is capable off.  Lets take a look at the Bangladesh cricket team for the world cup. It seems they have a quiet good number of ODI specialists in the team. Selectors seems to have done a nice job by picking a balanced team for the 2015 world cup that stars in less than 10 days from today.

Here is the list of the Bangladesh squad for the world cup:

1. Mashrafe Mortaza
2. Al-Amin Hossain
3. Anamul Haque
4. Arafat Sunny
5. Mahmudullah
6. Mominul Haque
7. Mushfiqur Rahim
8. Nasir Hossain
9. Rubel Hossain
10. Sabbir Rahman
11. Shakib Al Hasan
12. Soumya Sarkar
13. Taijul Islam
14. Tamim Iqbal
15. Taskin Ahmed 

Bangladesh cricket team is one of the team that consists of young players in the squad. Only one player (Mashrafe Mortaza ) is above 30 year and his age is also 31 years. So its quiet a young team.

Most of the teams performance and success in world cup will depend upon the performance of players like Shakib Al Hasan who is one of the most experienced player who also possess experience playing in various T20 franchise and that experience might help him at the world cup stage. Batting will depend mainly on the openers and top order which inlcudes Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rehman. However the dilemma is that no Bangladesh batsmen have scored a century at world cup so far.

Our best wishes to the Bangladesh cricket team !

NZ Visa, no worries for Indian cricket fans

With less than 80 days to go for the ICC world cup 2015 to start, there is a very exciting news for all the Indian cricket team fans who wish to visit New Zealand and watch the matches live from the stadium. All the Indian tourists who hold a valid visa for Australia can now get a free visa on arrival for New Zealand for the the duration of the world cup to watch the matches. Indian cricket team will play two group stage matches in New Zealand vs Ireland and Zimbabwe on 10th and 14th March respectively (More on 2015 world cup match schedules here - http://icccricket.blogspot.com/2014/07/2015-cricket-world-cup-match-schedule.html) and if Indian team performs well and qualifies for the next round there can be a good turnaround of Indian cricket team fans visiting New Zealand.

Country tourism department is expecting 33% increase in the tourists.David Craig the Tourism New Zealand general manager for Asia was quoted saying "Last year (July 2013-June 2014) we had about 30,000 Indian visitors and we expect about 40,000 visitors this fiscal ending June next," Overall there are quiet good number of matches being hosted by New Zealand, including a quarter final and semi final match. This means tourists from various participant nations are being expected to visit the country for matches.  The Tourism New Zealand is taking this as the opportunity to establish and increase the popularity of New Zealand as a preferred tourism destination in the world.

Lasith Malinga to Undergo Ankle Surgery Before World CUp 2015

The leading strike bowler for Sri Lankan cricket team Lasith Malinga has to undergo an ankle surgery. Malings has been suffering from some problem with his ankle from quiet a long time. The orthopedic surgeon he has been consulting has advised the fast bowler that he must undergo a surgery reason being that the ankle has detoriated to the extent where surgery is the only treatment option. Methods like cortisone injections and load monitoring which has worked till now might not help any further.

This means the the surgery will keep Malinga out of action for around 16 weeks and he is expected to recover and be available for training in January.  Malinga said that he is hopeful and give his best to be fit and play for the team in the upcoming cricket world cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. "I will do everything I can to be back for the World Cup" is his statement to the press. However at the same time he suggested that Sri Lanka cricket board might groom some your fast bowler so that team has someone prepared to play in his absence.

According to physicians is everything goes well, the fast bowler can get a chance to play few games against New Zealand in Sri Lanka teams tour to NZ and find his form and fitness. Sri Lanka is to play the world cup opening match against New Zealand on Feb 14. See the complete match details of 2015 world cup here.

We wish Lasith all the best for the operation and hope he will recover quickly and play for Sri Lanka in the world cup. It'd be nice to see Malinga Slinga yorkers in world cup. Wonder what a slinga is take a look in the view below:

2015 Cricket World Cup Match Schedule

My last post was about teams and pools in ICC cricket world cup 2015. In this post I'm going to share the list of match dates and venues for all the matches of world cup to be played across various venues in Australia and New Zealand. The opening match will be played between New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Christchurch  on 14th Feb, 2015. Australia will play their first match same day at Melbourne against England. Where India and Paskitan teams will have the most pressure filled opening match in the world cup history when both the teams will play against each other on 15th Feb.

Here is the full details of the matches:

• 1st Match, Pool A - New Zealand v Sri Lanka AT Hagley Oval, Christchurch  on Feb 14
• 2nd Match, Pool A - Australia v England at Melbourne Cricket Groundon Feb 14
• 3rd Match, Pool B - South Aonca v Zimbabwe at Sedd Park, Hamilt  on Feb 15
• 4th Match, Pool B - India v Pakistan at Adelaide Oval  on Feb 15
• 5th Match, Pool B - Ireland v West Indies at Saxt Oval, Nels  M Feb 16
• 6th Match, Pool A - New Zealand v Scotland at University Oval, Dunedin  on Feb 17
• 7th Match, Pool A - Afghanistan v Bangladesh at Manuka Oval, Canberra on Feb 18
• 8th Match, Pool B - United Arab Emirates v Zimbabwe at Saxt Oval, Nels  on Feb 19
• 9th Match, Pool A - New Zealand v England at Westpac Stadium, Wellingt  on Feb 20
• 10th Match, Pool B - Pakistan v West Indies at Hagley Oval, Christchurch  on Feb 21
• 11th Match, Pool A - Australia v Bangladesh at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woollogabba, Brisbane on Feb 21
• 12th Match, Pool A - Afghanistan v Sri Lanka at University Oval, Dunedin on Feb 22
• 13th Match, Pool B - India v South Aonca at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Feb 22
• 14th Match, Pool A - England v Scotland at Hagley Oval, Christchurch M Feb 23 
• 15th Match, Pool B - West Indies v Zimbabwe at Manuka Oval, Canberra on Feb 24
• 16th Match, Pool B - Ireland v United Arab Emirates at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woollogabba, Brisbane on Feb 25
• 17th Match, Pool A - Afghanistan v Scotland at University Oval, Dunedin on Feb 26
• 18th Match, Pool A - Bangladesh v Sri Lanka at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Feb 26
• 19th Match, Pool B - South Aonca v West Indies at Sydney Cricket Ground on Feb 27
• 21st Match, Pool A - New Zealand v Australia at Eden Park, Auckland on Feb 28  
• 20th Match, Pool B - India v United Arab Emirates at Western Australia Cricket Associati Ground, Perth on Feb 28
• 22nd Match, Pool A - England v Sri Lanka at Westpac Stadium, Wellingt on Mar 1
• 23rd Match, Pool B - Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woollogabba, Brisbane on Mar 1   
• 24th Match, Pool B - Ireland v South Aonca at Manuka Oval, Canberra on Mar 3
• 25th Match, Pool B - Pakistan v United Arab Emirates at McLean Park, Napier on Mar 4
• 26th Match, Pool A - Australia v Afghanistan at Western Australia Cricket Associati Ground, Perth on Mar 4
• 27th Match, Pool A - Bangladesh v Scotland at Saxt Oval, Nels on Mar 5 
• 28th Match, Pool B - India v West Indiesat Western Australia Cricket Associati Ground, Perth on Mar 6
• 29th Match, Pool B - Pakistan v South Aonca atEden Park, Auckland on Mar 7
• 30th Match, Pool B - Ireland v Zimbabwe at Bellerive Oval, Hobart on Mar 7
• 31st Match, Pool A - New Zealand v Afghanistan at McLean Park, Napier on Mar 8
• 32nd Match, Pool A - Australia v Sri Lanka at Sydney Cricket Ground on Mar 8
• 33rd Match, Pool A - England v Bangladesh at Adelaide Oval M Mar 9
• 34th Match, Pool B - India v Ireland on Mar 10  at Sedd Park, Hamilt
• 35th Match, Pool A - Scotland v Sri Lanka at Bellerive Oval, Hobart on Mar 11
• 36th Match, Pool B - South Aonca v United Arab Emirates at Westpac Stadium, Wellingt on Mar 12
• 37th Match, Pool A - New Zealand v Bangladesh at Sedd Park, Hamilt on Mar 13
• 38th Match, Pool A - Afghanistan v England at Sydney Cricket Ground on Mar 13
• 39th Match, Pool B - India v Zimbabwe at Eden Park, Auckland on Mar 14
• 40th Match, Pool A - Australia v Scotland atBellerive Oval, Hobart on Mar 14
• 41st Match, Pool B - United Arab Emirates v West Indies at McLean Park, Napier on Mar 15 
• 42nd Match, Pool B - Ireland v Pakistan at Adelaide Oval on Mar 15

Knock out stages match schedule:

• 1st Quarter-Final at Sydney Cricket Ground     on Mar 18     
• 2nd Quarter-Final at Melbourne Cricket Ground     on Mar 19     
• 3rd Quarter-Final at Adelaide Oval on Mar 20         
• 4th Quarter-Final at Westpac Stadium, Wellingt on Mar 21          
• 1st Semi-Final at Eden Park, Auckland on Mar 24         
• 2nd Semi-Final at Sydney Cricket Ground     on Mar 26     
• Final at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Mar 29         

So what are you waiting for, book your tickets accordingly. 

 

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Teams and Pools

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Qualifier Matches  that were held in January this year decided the 4 teams that will qualify for the ICC world cup 2015 along with the 10 test playing nations. Thus 14 teams will be participating in the world cup to be hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand. Four teams to qualify from the world cup qualifiers are:

1. Ireland
2. Afganisthan
3. Scotland
4. UAE

Now the teams are divided in two pools i.e. Pool A and Pool B. Here is the list of teams in each pool:

Pool A Teams (ICC World Cup 2015)

1. England
2. Australia
3. Sri Lanka
4. Bangladesh
5. New Zealand
6. Scotland
7. Afghanistan

Pool B Teams (ICC World Cup 2015)

1. South Africa
2. India
3. Pakistan
4. West Indies
5. Zimbabwe
6. Ireland
7. UAE

Fixtures for the ICC world cup 2015 has also been decaltedby ICC and I'll post the details of matches like date, time, participating teams and stadium/location name in my next post.

Keep visiting the blog for a complete coverage of 2015 cricket world cup til the finals being played Melbourne Cricket Ground on Mar29, 2015. 

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Qualifier Matches

They qualifier matches for ICC cricket world cup 2015 start from next month and there would be 4 matches to be played on the opening day i.e. January 12, 2014. Here are mathced to be played on the opening day of the world cup qualifiers:

1. Hong Kong v Scotland at Queenstown
2. Kenya v P.N.G. at New Plymouth
3. Nepal v U.A.E. at Rangiora
4. Netherlands v Uganda at Mt Maunganui

Nepal cricket team has already qualfied for the ICC world T20 tournament 2014 to be played in Bangladesh and if they manage to qualify for the world cup then this can be great boos to cricket in the small Himalyan Kingdom.  Apart from Nepal, I really wish Kenya cricket team to qualify for the world cup, this team has done pretty well in the past but was unable to carry on the good work on consistency.

I wish all the best to all the participating nations, lets the best one win the tournament and the best of the qualifiers compete in the 2015 ICC cricket world cup. Winner will be decided inthe Final match on Jan 31st. Here are the complete fixtures for ICC world cup qualifiers:


Sun Jan 12 (50 ovs)
1st Match, Group B - Netherlands v Uganda
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui    
   
Sun Jan 12 (50 ovs)
2nd Match, Group B - Kenya v Papua New Guinea
Pukekura Park, New Plymouth    
   
3rd Match, Group A - Nepal v United Arab Emirates
Mainpower Oval, Rangiora    
   
Sun Jan 12 (50 ovs)
4th Match, Group A - Hong Kong v Scotland
Queenstown Events Centre    
   
Tue Jan 14 (50 ovs)
6th Match, Group A - Canada v United Arab Emirates
Mainpower Oval, Rangiora    
   
Tue Jan 14 (50 ovs)
5th Match, Group B - Namibia v Netherlands
Bay Oval No2, Mount Maunganui    
   
Wed Jan 15 (50 ovs)
Group B - Uganda v Papua New Guinea
Pukekura Park, New Plymouth    
   
Wed Jan 15 (50 ovs)
Group A - Nepal v Scotland
Queenstown Events Centre    
   
Thu Jan 16 (50 ovs)
Group A - Canada v Hong Kong
Mainpower Oval, Rangiora    
   
Thu Jan 16 (50 ovs)
Group B - Kenya v Namibia
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui    
   
Sat Jan 18 (50 ovs)
Group B - Kenya v Uganda
Bay Oval No2, Mount Maunganui    
   
Sat Jan 18 (50 ovs)
Group B - Netherlands v Papua New Guinea
Pukekura Park, New Plymouth    
   
Sat Jan 18 (50 ovs)
Group A - Hong Kong v Nepal
Mainpower Oval, Rangiora    
   
Sat Jan 18 (50 ovs)
Group A - Scotland v United Arab Emirates
Queenstown Events Centre    
   
Mon Jan 20 (50 ovs)
Group B - Namibia v Uganda
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui    
   
Mon Jan 20 (50 ovs)
Group A - Canada v Nepal
Hagley Oval, Christchurch    
   
Wed Jan 22 (50 ovs)
Group A - Canada v Scotland
Hagley Oval, Christchurch    
   
Wed Jan 22 (50 ovs)
Group B - Kenya v Netherlands
Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln    
   
Wed Jan 22 (50 ovs)
Group B - Namibia v Papua New Guinea
Bay Oval No2, Mount Maunganui    
   
Wed Jan 22 (50 ovs)
Group A - Hong Kong v United Arab Emirates
Queenstown Events Centre    
   
Sat Jan 25 (50 ovs)
1st play-off - TBC v TBC (B4 v A5)
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui    
   
Sat Jan 25 (50 ovs)
2nd play-off - TBC v TBC (A4 v B5)
Bay Oval No2, Mount Maunganui    
   
Sat Jan 25 (50 ovs)
Super Sixes - TBC v TBC (A2 v B3)
Mainpower Oval, Rangiora    
   
Sat Jan 25 (50 ovs)
21:30 GMT
Super Sixes - TBC v TBC (A1 v B1)
Hagley Oval, Christchurch    
   
Sat Jan 25 (50 ovs)
Super Sixes - TBC v TBC (B2 v A3)
Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln    
   
Mon Jan 27 (50 ovs)
9th place play-off - TBC v TBC (Winner Playoff 1 v Winner Playoff 2)
Bay Oval No2, Mount Maunganui    
   
Mon Jan 27 (50 ovs)
7th place play-off - TBC v TBC (Loser Playoff 1 v Loser Playoff 2)
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui    
   
Mon Jan 27 (50 ovs)
Super Sixes - TBC v TBC (A3 v B3)
Mainpower Oval, Rangiora    
   
Mon Jan 27 (50 ovs)
Super Sixes - TBC v TBC (A1 v B2)
Hagley Oval, Christchurch    
   
Mon Jan 27 (50 ovs)
Super Sixes - TBC v TBC (B1 v A2)
Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln    
   
Wed Jan 29 (50 ovs)
Super Sixes - TBC v TBC (A1 v B3)
Mainpower Oval, Rangiora    
   
Wed Jan 29 (50 ovs)
Super Sixes - TBC v TBC (A2 v B2)
Hagley Oval, Christchurch    
   
Wed Jan 29 (50 ovs)
Super Sixes - TBC v TBC (B1 v A3)
Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln    
   
Fri Jan 31 (50 ovs)
Final - TBC v TBC
Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln   

Hope you are also enjoying the third ODI between India and South Africa today. 

Two important series that can decide Indian cricket team for World Cup 2015

There is still around a year and half left for the ICC cricket world cup 2015 to start, however the cricket tournaments that would be played in these 18 months period would be crucial for every players from every participating nation.  Players form and fitness in these tournaments can be the deciding factor if the player will get selected for the world cup team or not. In this post I am posting about two important cricket series for the Indian cricket team .

Before the ICC cricket world cup 2015 Indian cricket team has two play two important series. One is a home series against Australia and second in the Indian cricket team tour to South Africa. The home series against Australia will consist of one twenty twenty match and seven ODI matches.  Since this series is being played at home grounds many of the blog readers might thing that its an insignificant game, but I've two valid points one that the oppostion team is Australia, which is co-host for the 2015 cricket wold cup and secondly the players form in this series can get them selected for the South African tour thus indirectly the series against Australia will decide a players inclusion in the list of probables for the world cup 2015.

The tour of South Africa is a long one which will include 2 T20 games, 7 ODI and 3 test matches. Apart from these matches there would be practice matches against domestic teams of South Africa. So tour of South Africa will give a nice exposure to Indian players of bouncy, fast pitches and nay players who performs here would get the ticket for the world cup where pitch conditions are almost the same.

Match details of Australia vs India (Australia team tour of India)

• Thu Oct 10         
  19:00 IST     Only T20I - India v Australia
  Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot   
   
• Sun Oct 13         
  14:30 IST     1st ODI - India v Australia
  Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune    
   
• Wed Oct 16        
  14:30 IST     2nd ODI - India v Australia
  Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur   
  
• Sat Oct 19        
  14:30 IST     3rd ODI - India v Australia
  Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh   
     
• Wed Oct 23        
  14:30 IST     4th ODI - India v Australia
  JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi    
  
  
• Sat Oct 26        
  14:30 IST     5th ODI - India v Australia
  Barabati Stadium, Cuttack   
     
• Wed Oct 30        
  14:30 IST     6th ODI - India v Australia
  Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur   
  
     
• Sat Nov 2        
  14:30 IST     7th ODI - India v Australia
  M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore    

   

I'll post match details on India Vs South Africa (India tour of South Africa) later as that series starts November. Till then enjoy the current matches and book your match tickets in advance for the India Vs Australia series.