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To give a faint picture of what to expect from the highly anticipated ICC World Cup, the ten participating teams will be participating in World cup warm up matches. Two warm-up games are scheduled to be played each day between May 24 and 28, with two matches slated for each day. The official warm-up contests will be held at the Bristol County Ground, Cardiff Wales Stadium, Hampshire Bowl and The Oval.
The ICC World Cup 2019 will be played from May 30 to July 14 in England and Wales. Hosts England face South Africa in the tournament opener on May 30 at the Oval, London. But before the first battle takes place, let us catch some calm before the storm. Here we take a look at the the World cup warm up matches:
Format
According to the rules of ICC, these warm-up matches are played 50-overs per side but they are not entitled as official ODI encounters. The teams can try all there 15 members of the squad during the match. All the batsmen can bat during the match and all the bowlers are eligible to bowl.
Usually team sends their main batsmen to batting means all those eight or nine batsmen available in the squad. One more thing many teams do is that they call the batsmen back in the dressing room whenever they want to. Batsman can get the chance of playing and team able to pick up from that squad. Now when it comes to bowling so every bowler is allowed to bowl who is in the squad and it is not required that whether he came to bat earlier or not.
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Schedule
| Date | Match | Venue |
| May 22 | West Indies v Australia | Southampton |
| May 24 | Pakistan v Afghanistan | Bristol |
| May 24 | Sri Lanka v South Africa | Cardiff |
| May 25 | England v Australia | Southampton |
May 25 | India v New Zealand | The Oval |
| May 26 | South Africa v West Indies | Bristol |
| May 26 | Pakistan v Bangladesh | Cardiff |
| May 27 | Australia v Sri Lanka | Southampton |
| May 27 | England v Afghanistan | The Oval |
| May 28 | West Indies v New Zealand | Bristol |
May 28 | Bangladesh v India | Cardiff |
Note: All the matches will be broadcasted in India at 15:00.
Why warm-up matches?
Before the start of the real action, each team wants to adjust to the conditions and make a winning combination of the playing XI. Accordingly, warm-up matches are scheduled prior to the opening game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. England is one of the difficult venues in the world to play. Thus, it is also a good chance for team to assess the pitch conditions as well as the form of the players. It provides an opportunity for the teams to select their playing XI for the main event.
“It is always a huge milestone announcing an exciting warm-up schedule for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup as it really highlights just how close we are to the action getting underway this summer, “ the Managing Director of ICC World Cup 2019 said after announcing the warm-up fixtures. He further added, “These games provide another fantastic opportunity for fans to see world-class players at their local venue and allow the tournament to engage local schools and communities with another chance to get involved with the Cricket World Cup.”
Captains of different teams are excited about playing the two practice matches each, hopeful to make use of them in final arrangements and to adjust to the conditions in England and Wales.
Warm-up matches of India
India will play their first warm-up match against New Zealand on May 25 at the Oval and will head to Cardiff to play their second fixture on May 28. Although there will be a proper 50-over format, the game will not carry the official ODI status. This means that teams an field all members of 15-men squads during the match.
From last one year, India is in the search of a solid XI, who can be relied on to win matches nine times out of ten, if not more. All the eyes will be fixed on who features in the much-talked about No.4 position. There are as many as four cricketers – Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, KL Rahul, and Vijay Shankar – all in fray.
This will be a perfect opportunity to check every combination for the skipper. It will also be a good rehabilitation opportunity for Kedar Jadhav who has been struggling with a recurring shoulder injury. Thus, these practice matches will play crucial role for Virat Kohli and Co.
Where to watch?
Star Sports will be streaming all the World cup warm up matches live on Hotstar. Moreover, the matches will also be seen live on Star Sports Network channels – Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada, Star Sports 1 Bangla and Star Sports Select 1.
