ICC Cricket World Cup trophy to visit participating countries

Lahore: The ICC Cricket World Cup trophy will visit countries that will participate in next year’s extravaganza to be staged in Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced today.

The first stopover of the trophy* will be Sri Lanka, which won cricket’s ultimate prize in Lahore when India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka jointly hosted the tournament in 1996. The prestigious silverware will arrive in Colombo on a three-day tour on Friday 4 July, where it will be received by six members of the World Cup winning squad, namely Marvan Atapattu, Upul Chandana, Aravinda de Silva, Hashan Tillerkaratne, Chaminda Vaas and Pramodaya Wickramsinghe.

During its stay, the trophy will feature at a number of events and will also be on display during the first One-Day International between Sri Lanka and South Africa at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on 6 July.

Sri Lanka will feature in the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 when it will go head to head with co-host New Zealand in Christchurch.

The trophy will return to Dubai on 7 July, before embarking on a five-day tour of India on 19 July. India is the reigning world champion and will play 1992 winner Pakistan in its opening match in Adelaide on 15 February.

Also this month, the trophy will visit Bangladesh on 25 and 26 July. Bangladesh’s first match is against qualifier Afghanistan at Manuka Oval, Canberra, on 18 February.

After visiting 12 countries over four months, the trophy will arrive in Melbourne on 6 November in time for the 100 days to go celebrations, details of which will be announced in due course.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “To hold the Cricket World Cup trophy is the dream of every cricketer.

“The upcoming World Cup will be a great opportunity to watch your team take on the world’s best and enjoy the hospitality of two beautiful but very different countries. It is significant that the trophy is beginning its journey from Dubai, not only because it has been the home of the ICC since 2005, but also because the UAE has qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1996.”