500 days to go: ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is coming to Bristol
15 January 2018
The countdown to the ICC Cricket World Cup returning to Bristol for the first time in 20 years has begun and tournament organisers have today announced the ticket timeline for the year ahead.
Next year’s tournament, which will feature 10 teams across 48 matches between 30 May and 14 July, will be the fourth time England & Wales have hosted the global event.
To reward the hard work that goes into running the game across England & Wales, anyone in the cricket family will get priority access to the ticket ballot on 1 May. There will then be a public ballot in July. Ticket prices and the full match schedule will be announced at the end of March.
Whether its players, coaches, umpires or fans, this will be their chance to beat the rush and book their seats early. The full match schedule and ticket prices will be announced at the end of March.
Register now at cricketworldcup.com to make sure you get the latest ticket news delivered direct to your inbox.
To mark the 500 days to go milestone, we look back at the last time Bristol hosted World Cup cricket.
The first three Cricket World Cups were held in England & Wales, before it returned in 1999 for the 7th edition, which Australia won by defeating Pakistan in the final at Lord's.
On the pitch in 1999, Australia were just starting to assert their dominance on the one-day international game, claiming the first of their hat-trick of World Cup successes, but it wasn't without drama, namely that Semi-Final against South Africa.
Bristol hosted two fixtures at the World Cup in 1999, so we decided to roll the clocks back 19 years to that summer and re-live the games that took place at the Bristol County Ground...
Pakistan v West Indies (16 May 1999)
Pakistan won by 27 runs
Pakistan’s fans were in fine voice in Bristol, as they got their Cricket World Cup campaign off to a winning start against West Indies.
Wasim Akram won the toss and elected to bat first, and at first it looked like it could prove to be the wrong decision, as they fell to 42/4 after 18.4 overs.
However, a number of handy knocks from the middle order – Mohammad Yousuf (34), Azhar Mahmood (37) and Akram (43) – helped Pakistan reached a score of 229/8 from their 50 overs.
West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul came to the crease with the score at 84/3, and seemed to be fighting a one-man battle to try and earn victory for the two-time champions. Despite his gutsy 77 from 96 balls, wickets fell all around him, and the Windies were bowled out for 202, 28 runs shy of their target – to the delight of a vociferous Pakistan crowd in Bristol.
India v Kenya (23 May 1999) India won by 94 runs
India hit the second-highest total of the Cricket World Cup in 1999 as they thrashed Kenya in Bristol.
Centuries from Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar helped India rack up an impressive score of 329/2 from their 50 overs, at a run-rate of over 6.5.
Opener Sadagoppan Ramesh got the ball rolling for India, scoring 44, before Dravid and Tendulkar came to the crease and put on a majestic stand of 237. Tendulkar scored the quicker of the two, hitting three sixes and 16 fours in a knock of 140* from 101 balls, while Dravid struck 104* from 109 balls.
Kenya gave it a go with the bat, with two of their batsmen - Kennedy Otien and Steve Tikolo – passing fifty. However, they couldn’t keep up with the required run-rate, and four wickets from medium-pacer Debasis Mohanty helped India to a comfortable 94-run victory.
Be amongst the first to get your hands on ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 tickets!
How well do you remember the World Cup in 1999?
Test your knowledge in the 500 days to go competition and be in with a chance of winning one of eleven pairs of tickets to ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 matches.
