Cricket World Cup 2007 Home

It was back in 1912 when the first World Championship (a three-way series between the then current Test-playing countries - i.e. Australia, England and South Africa) was held. In fact, this was more of an experiment than a Championship which, because of bad weather, was deemed to have failed. It wasn't until 1975, following the success of domestic one-day competitions, the now six Test-playing nations (England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, India and Pakistan) were joined by Sri Lanka and East Africa in the first World Cup which took place in England. This was a resounding success, resulting in the tournament being repeated in 1979 and 1983, again in England. From then on it moved abroad, keeping to its four-year cycle. Now it's the turn of the Caribbean to play host.

Jamaica is one of nine Caribbean countries that will stage what has been billed as the third largest event in sport between March 5 and April 28 next year. At a recent press conference, the Caribbean nations revealed the following agreement: to allow "the free movement of people" among the ten countries for the first five months of next year. Chris Dehring, the tournament director of next year's ICC Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, has applauded this move. "This is an historic day for the region. It speaks volumes about the importance which our leaders place on the Cricket World Cup." The 2007 Final itself (scheduled for April 28) will be hosted at the Kensington Oval which was demolished last year as redevelopment began to increase the seating capacity from 16,000 to 28,000.

Cricket might be a more laid-back sport than football, and you can't quite compare the event to the recent World Cup 2006 in Germany, but aficionados of the game would argue that it's every bit as exciting when it gets down to the knock-out stages. Expect the "thrills and spills" of any closely-fought contest; expect some of cricket's young rising stars to shine; expect steel bands and reggae-inspired crowds. And, most importantly, expect the unexpected!

World Cup 2007 Fixtures

Group Stage

Super Eight

Semi-Finals

Final