The ICC has announced the venue allocation criteria for the knock out stage of the World Cup 2015 which has started from 14th February.
ICC General Manager, Geoff Allardice explained “It is customary for the ICC to afford the hosts the opportunity to play knock-out matches at home where possible during an ICC Cricket World Cup.”
“It is also usual for the ICC to assign venues to the higher ranked teams on the assumption they will progress through the pool stage. This is done to assist teams and spectators with their planning by giving them greater certainty. On this basis, the ICC has allocated quarter-final venues to the next two highest ranked teams from Pool A.”
Quarter Final Venues –
The co-hosts, Australia and New Zealand from Pool A have qualified for the quarter finals and they have an advantage to play their quarter-finals at their home ground. It means, New Zealand will play their quarter-finals at Wellington on 21st March and Australia will play theirs in Adelaide on 20th March, irrespective of their Pool standings.
Similarly, when the teams were divided into two Pools, Sri Lanka and England were higher ranked teams apart from hosts in Pool A and hence Sri Lanka will play their quarter-finals on 18th March in Sydney and since England’s place is taken by Bangladesh, they will play their quarter finals on 19th March in Melbourne.
For Example : Bangladesh will play in Melbourne on 19th March now irrespective of where they finish.
Pool B participants do not have any advantage regarding the venue. They will be up against their counter-parts with respect to the Pool standings of Pool A and Pool B. The match dates are also not sure for the teams qualifying from Pool B
For Example: If India finishes at the top in Pool B, they play the 4th placed team in Pool A in Melbourne on 20th March.
Semi Final Venues –
Now, coming to venues regarding semi-finals, if Australia and New Zealand qualify, then they get to play at their home ground unless they play each other in the semis. In such a case, the team ranked at the top of Pool A will get the advantage of the venue. In this case, as New Zealand will finish at top in Pool A and if New Zealand faces Australia in semi-finals, then the match will be held in Auckland on 24th March.
However, looking at their Pool standings currently, it is unlikely that Australia and New Zealand will face off each other in the semi-finals.
If the hosts failed to qualify for the semi-finals, then the team which defeated them in the quarter-finals will have the home advantage.
For example : If New Zealand and Australia fail to make the semis and lose their Quarter-Final matches, then the winner from the New Zealand quarter-final match will play their semi finals in Sydney on 26th March and winner of the Australia QF match will play their semi-final in Auckland on 24th March.
If only New Zealand fails to qualify and Australia qualifies, then Australia’s Semi-Final will be held in Sydney and the winner of New Zealand’s Quarter-final will play its semi-final in Auckland. Similar is the case if Australia fails to qualify for the semis and New Zealand qualifies.
Quarter Finals permutations –
The first quarter final is A1 vs. B4, more likely New Zealand vs. B4. However, as New Zealand have their home advantage, their quarter-finals will be played in New Zealand on 21st March but will be called QF1 and not QF4.
The quarter-final match ups will be decided from Group Stages.
|
QF 1 |
A1 vs. B4 |
|
QF 2 |
A2 vs. B3 |
|
QF 3 |
A3 vs. B2 |
|
OF 4 |
B1 vs. A4 |
Venues:
|
18th March |
Sydney, Australia |
|
19th March |
Melbourne, Australia |
|
20th March |
Adelaide, Australia |
|
21st March |
Wellington, New Zealand |
Semi-final permutations:
|
SF 1 |
Winner of QF 1 vs. Winner of QF 3 |
|
SF 2 |
Winner of QF 2 vs. Winner of QF 4 |
Venues:
|
24st March |
Auckland, New Zealand |
|
26th March |
Sydney, Australia |
Finals date and Venue – 29th March 2015 at Melbourne, Australia.