500 Days To Go: ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Is Coming To Hampshire

The countdown to the ICC Cricket World Cup returning to Hampshire 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.

To mark the 500 days to go milestone, we look back at the last time Hampshire 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.

Southampton hosted two fixtures at the 1999 World Cup, so we decided to roll the clocks back 19 years to that summer and re-live the games that took place at the County Ground.

New Zealand v West Indies (24 May 1999)

West Indies won by 7 wickets

West Indies’ bowlers turned the screw against New Zealand in Southampton to secure their second win of the Cricket World Cup in 1999.

Windies captain Brian Lara won the toss and elected to bowl at the County Ground, a decision that was vindicated extremely early on, as New Zealand fell to 22/3 in 10.3 overs.

Wickets continued to fall cheaply for the Black Caps – Mervyn Dillon taking four of them – as they were bowled out for just 156.

West Indies opener Ridley Jacobs provided the platform for their chase, with his 80 not out – over 50% his team’s overall total – proving more than enough to earn victory, as they reached the target with 5.8 overs and seven wickets to spare.

Sri Lanka v Kenya (30 May 1999)

Sri Lanka won by 45 runs

Sri Lanka finished their Cricket World Cup campaign in positive fashion by convincingly beating Kenya in Southampton.

After four group games, both sides had missed out on qualifying for the next stage of the tournament, and were playing for pride in the final game of the group stage.

Half-cenutires from Marvan Atapattu (52) and captain Arjuna Ranatunga (50), as well as useful knocks from Sanath Jayasuriya (39) and Mahela Jayawardene (45 from 133 balls) helped Sri Lanka post a total of 275/8.

Kenya started poorly with the bat – finding themselves 52/5 after 18.3 overs – before a partnership of 161 between Maurice Odumbe (82) and Alpesh Vadher (73) pushed them along to 213/6. However, they fell short 46 runs short of their target at the end of their 50 overs.

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.