Cricket World Cup: Q&A and Ireland fixtures

WORLD CUP QUESTION AND ANSWERS

What are Ireland doing at the World Cup, did the ICC not want to kick them out after the last one?

Well they keep trying and after the last one in 2011 the ICC reduced the amount of teams from 14 to 10, but were then forced to change back to 14 after a campaign in which Ireland took a leading role. The national team then became the first Associate team to qualify in July 2013. Afghanistan, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates are the other Associate nations to make the event.

Is it Super Eights, Super Sixes, After Eights, what’s the format this time around?

They’ve stuck with the same system as 2011 with two pools of seven playing round-robin matches. The top four teams from each pool qualify for the quarter-finals and it’s a straight knock-out from there on in.

What chances do Ireland have of making the quarter-finals then, is it worth a bet?

Ireland are only priced at 9/2 to make the quarter-finals and if they can beat a struggling West Indies side in their opening match and the UAE in their second then they’ll only need one win from the games involving South Africa, Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan to make it to the last eight.

And what about an overall winner, who are the form horses?

Australia are 2/1 favourites as one of the two hosts and are certainly playing good ODI cricket at the moment. South Africa have also impressed, albeit against a pretty poor West Indies side but taking 3/1 on a side that have choked a few times at the World Cup might not be great value. New Zealand have been very impressive and play all their pool games at home, including against joint hosts Australia, so at 5/1 they are a good bet.

The schedule looks a bit wacky, are the players trying to get their air miles up?

Ireland play six games in 28 days in six different cities between Australia and New Zealand and will rack up at least 11,000 kilometres in air miles during the pool games. After their opener against West Indies in Nelson they face a nine-day wait for the second game against the UAE. The other extreme sees just a three-day turnaround between the games against Zimbabwe in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart and India in Hamilton on New Zealand’s north island.

IRELAND'S WORLD CUP POOL B FIXTURES

Monday, February 16th*: Ireland v West Indies, Saxton Oval, Nelson, New Zealand, 11.0am local time (*10.0pm Sunday night Irish time) – Live Sky Sports 2 from 9.0pm.

Wednesday, February 25th: Ireland v United Arab Emirates, The Gabba, Brisbane, 1.30pm local (3.30am Irish time) – Live Sky Sports 2, 3.0am.

Tuesday March 3rd: Ireland v South Africa, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 2.30pm local (3.30am Irish time) – Live Sky Sports 2, 3.20am.

Saturday March 7th: Ireland v Zimbabwe, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2.30pm (3.30am Irish time) – Live Sky Sports 2 (on red button from 3.20am to 9.0am).

Tuesday March 10th: Ireland v India, Seddon Park, Hamilton, 2.0pm (1.0am Irish time) – Live Sky Sports 2

Sunday March 15th: Ireland v Pakistan, Adelaide Oval, 2.0pm (3.30am Irish time) - Live Sky Sports, 3.0am