International Cricket Council, ICC has announced the format and schedule of cricket World Cup 2011. There will be total 14 teams playing in the tournament, divided in the 2 groups of 7 teams each. Each team will play each other team in a group once. So total 42 league matches will be there. Four top teams from each group will qualify for the next stage which will be knock out stage. Four quarte finals will be played and then two semi-finals and a final. So total 49 matches will be played in the tournament. The 2 groups consists of following teams:

Group A
Australia
Pakistan
New Zealand
Sri Lanka
Zimbabwe
Canada
Kenya

Group B
India
England
South Africa
West Indies
Bangladesh
Ireland
Netherlands

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, the 10th Cricket World Cup, will be hosted by three South Asian Test cricket playing countries; India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Pakistan has not been allowed to host any match because of the terror situation there. It will be Bangladesh’s first time co-hosting a Cricket World Cup. The World Cup will of 50 over One Day International format, with fourteen national cricket teams competing for the championship.

The World Cup will take place during February and March 2011. And the opening match will be played on 19 February 2011 between India and Bangladesh at Dhaka. The World Cup was originally to have been hosted by Pakistan as well, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, ICC were forced to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights.

In World cup 2011 14 teams will participate instead of originally planned 16. The first round of the tournament will be a round-robin similar to the one held in South Africa in the 2003 edition. 14 teams are divided into 2 groups of 7 teams each. The 7 teams play each other once in each of the group and the top four from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals. The format ensures that each team gets to play at least six matches even if they are ruled out of the tournament due to early defeats.

The planned semi-final venues are the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka and PCA Stadium in Mohali, India. The final is scheduled to be played at the renovated Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India.

14 teams which will play the world cup include 10 full members of the ICC, which are qualified automatically. These are Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. Other teams have qualified through a qualifying tournament organized by ICC in South Africa. Ireland who had been the best performing Associate nation since the last World Cup, won the tournament, beating Canada in the final. The Netherlands and Kenya also qualified for finishing third and fourth respectively in the tournament.

All the matches of the tournament will be played in the month of February and March, 2011. Schedule of the tournament is as follows:

Saturday 19 Feb – Bangladesh v India, Dhaka
Sunday 20 Feb – New Zealand v Kenya, Chennai
Sunday 20 Feb – Sri Lanka v Canada, Hambantota
Monday 21 Feb – Australia v Zimbabwe, Ahmedabad
Tuesday 22 Feb – England v Netherlands, Nagpur
Wednesday 23 Feb – Pakistan v Kenya, Hambantota
Thursday 24 Feb – South Africa v West Indies, New Delhi
Friday 25 Feb – Australia v New Zealand, Nagpur
Friday 25 Feb – Bangladesh v Ireland, Dhaka
Saturday 26 Feb – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Colombo
Sunday 27 Feb – India v England, Kolkata
Monday 28 Feb – West Indies v Netherlands, New Delhi
Monday 28 Feb – Zimbabwe v Canada, Nagpur
Tuesday 1 Mar – Sri Lanka v Kenya, Colombo
Wednesday 2 Mar – England v Ireland, Bangalore
Thursday 3 Mar – South Africa v Netherlands, Mohali
Thursday 3 Mar – Pakistan v Canada, Colombo
Friday 4 Mar – New Zealand v Zimbabwe, Ahmedabad
Friday 4 Mar – Bangladesh v West Indies, Dhaka
Saturday 5 Mar – Sri Lanka v Australia, Colombo
Sunday 6 Mar – India v Ireland, Bangalore
Sunday 6 Mar – England v South Africa, Chennai
Monday 7 Mar – Kenya v Canada, New Delhi
Tuesday 8 Mar – Pakistan v New Zealand, Pallekele
Wednesday 9 Mar – India v Netherlands, New Delhi
Thursday 10 Mar – Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe, Pallekele
Friday 11 Mar – West Indies v Ireland, Mohali
Friday 11 Mar – Bangladesh v England, Chittagong
Saturday 12 Mar – India v South Africa, Nagpur
Sunday 13 Mar – New Zealand v Canada, Mumbai
Sunday 13 Mar – Australia v Kenya, Bangalore
Monday 14 Mar – Pakistan v Zimbabwe, Pallekele
Monday 14 Mar – Bangladesh v Netherlands, Chittagong
Tuesday 15 Mar – South Africa v Ireland, Kolkata
Wednesday 16 Mar – Australia v Canada, Bangalore
Thursday 17 Mar – England v West Indies, Chennai
Friday 18 Mar – Sri Lanka v New Zealand, Mumbai
Friday 18 Mar – Ireland v Netherlands, Kolkata
Saturday 19 Mar – Australia v Pakistan, Colombo
Saturday 19 Mar – Bangladesh v South Africa, Dhaka
Sunday 20 Mar – Zimbabwe v Kenya, Kolkata
Sunday 20 Mar – India v West Indies, Chennai
Wednesday 23 Mar – First quarter-final, Dhaka
Thursday 24 Mar – Second quarter-final, Colombo
Friday 25 Mar – Third quarter-final, Dhaka
Saturday 26 Mar – Fourth quarter-final, Ahmedabad
Tuesday 29 Mar – First semi-final, Colombo
Wednesday 30 Mar – Second semi-final, Mohali
Saturday 2 April – Final, Mumbai