ICC Cricket World Cup will kick off today. The 12th edition to be hosted by England and Wales will be on till 14 July. The inaugural match of the tournament will see host England play South Africa at The Oval. It is the fifth time that the Cricket World Cup will be held in England and Wales, following the 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999 World Cups.
The format for the tournament will be a single group of 10 teams, with each team playing the other nine once, and the top four at the end of the group phase progressing to the semi-finals. This means a total of 45 matches will be played, with each team playing a total of nine matches. The top four teams from the group will progress to the knockout stage. A similar format was previously used in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, though that tournament featured nine teams instead of ten. Interestingly India, the 1983 and 2011 World Champions, will play their first match on 5 June against SA in Southampton.England are ranked as the number one team in the format.
