With events like the 2012 Olympic Games, the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the UK has hosted its fair share of major sporting events recently. However, for passionate sports fans like Fiyaz Mughal, there’s nothing more exciting than the upcoming 2019 Cricket World Cup. The 2012 Olympic Games inspired the whole nation and organisers of the Cricket World Cup are hoping they can inspire even more by using the London Stadium to host record breaking major matches.
The potential deal will see two matches of the Cricket World Cup played at the London Stadium. The plan is for the London Stadium to host a day-night match on a Friday and a day match on a Sunday.
The fixtures played over these two days are likely to be group matches between England vs Australia, and India vs Pakistan. England vs Australia will capture huge public interest as it will reflect the iconic rivalry of the Ashes test series. India and Pakistan are two of the world’s largest and most popularly supported international cricket teams and will attract a huge audience.
The London Stadium was originally called the Olympic Stadium and was actually built to home the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Since then, the arena has become home to West Ham United football club and has hosted an array of major international events like the Rugby League World Cup and UK Athletics. By finalising a deal to host a number of key games in the London Stadium, the Cricket World Cup will take advantage not just of the increased crowd capacity, but also the stadium’s iconic national status.
The London Stadium has a capacity of 60,000. That’s more than double the current capacity of Britain’s biggest cricket stadium, Lord’s. Filling out such a large stadium could be an inspirational boost to the game in Britain. A crowd of 60,000 would be the biggest ever audience for an India-Pakistan game outside of the Indian subcontinent.
The deal will be fully confirmed sometime in mid-July. However, after a pitch inspection found the ground complied with the dimensions necessary to stage one-day cricket, it seems likely that fans of the Cricket World Cup will get to enjoy one of the UK’s most iconic modern sports venues.