2015 Cricket World Cup
The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council. It was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March 2015, and was won by Australia, defeating New Zealand by 7 wickets in the final. This was the second time the tournament was held in Australia and New Zealand, the first having been the 1992 Cricket World Cup. India were the defending champions having won the previous edition in 2011, but they were eliminated by eventual champions Australia in the semi-finals.
The tournament consisted of 14 teams, which were split into two pools of seven, with each team playing every other team in their pool once. The top four teams from each pool progressed to the knockout stage, which consisted of quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final.
The final was between the co-hosts Australia and New Zealand. Australia won by seven wickets, to win their fifth Cricket World Cup.
The total attendance was 1,016,420, with an average of 21,175 per game. The final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground had a crowd of 93,013, a record one-day cricket crowd for Australia In India, the largest television rating was for the Australia–India semi-final, 15% of television-viewing households.
Host selection
Bids
The ICC announced the hosts for the previous World Cup, the 2011 competition, on 30 April 2006. Australia and New Zealand had also bid for the tournament and a successful Australian bid for the 2011 World Cup would have seen a 50–50 split in games, with the final still up for negotiation. The Trans-Tasman bid, Beyond Boundaries, was the only bid for 2011 delivered to the ICC headquarters at Dubai before 1 March deadline. Considerable merits of the bid included the superior venues and infrastructure, and the total support of the Australian and New Zealand governments on tax and custom issues during the tournament, according to Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland. The New Zealand government had also assured that the Zimbabwean team would be allowed to take part in the tournament after political discussions about whether their team would be allowed to tour Zimbabwe in 2005.ICC President Ehsan Mani said that the extra time required by the Asian bloc to hand over its bid had harmed the four-nation bid. However, when it came to the voting, the Asians won by seven votes to four; according to the Pakistan Cricket Board, it was the vote of the West Indies Cricket Board that turned the matter. It was reported in Pakistani newspaper Dawn that the Asian countries promised to hold fundraising events for West Indian cricket during the 2007 Cricket World Cup, which may have influenced the vote. However, I.S. Bindra, chairman of the monitoring committee of the Asian bid, denied that, saying that it was their promise of extra profits of US$400 million that swung the vote their way.
The ICC was so impressed by the efficiency of the Trans-Tasman bid that they decided to award the next World Cup, to be held in 2015, to them.
Australia and New Zealand last jointly hosted the Cricket World Cup in 1992.
Format
The tournament featured 14 teams, the same number as the 2011 World Cup, giving associate and affiliate member nations a chance to participate.The format was the same as the 2011 edition: 14 teams take part in the initial stages, divided into two groups of seven; the seven teams play each other once before the top four teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals.
On 29 January 2015, ICC reinstated the use of the Super Over for Cricket World Cup Final match if the match finished as a tie.
Qualification
Per ICC regulations, the 10 ICC full member nations qualify for the tournament automatically. Immediately after the 2011 World Cup, it was decided that the next tournament would be reduced to only feature the 10 full members. This was met with heavy criticism from a number of associate nations, especially from the Ireland cricket team, who had performed well in 2007 and 2011, including victories over Pakistan and England, both full member nations. Following support shown by the ICC Cricket Committee for a qualification process, the ICC reversed their decision in June 2011 and decided that 14 teams would participate in the 2015 World Cup, including four associate or affiliate member nations.At the ICC Chief Executives' Committee meeting in September 2011, the ICC decided on a new qualifying format. The top two teams of the 2011–13 ICC World Cricket League Championship qualify directly. The remaining six teams join the third and fourth-placed teams of 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Two and the top two teams of 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three in a 10-team World Cup Qualifier to decide the remaining two places.
On 9 July 2013, as a result of a tied match against the Netherlands, Ireland became the first country to qualify for the 2015 World Cup. On 4 October 2013, Afghanistan qualified for their first Cricket World Cup after beating Kenya to finish in second place behind Ireland.
Scotland defeated the United Arab Emirates in the final of the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier and both teams qualified for the last two spots in the 2015 Cricket World Cup.
| Team | Method of qualification | Past appearances | Last appearance | Previous best performance | Rank | Group |
| Full members | 10 | 2011 | Runners-up | 1 | A | |
| Full members | 6 | 2011 | Semi-finals | 2 | B | |
| Full members | 10 | 2011 | Champions | 3 | B | |
| Full members | 10 | 2011 | Champions | 4 | A | |
| Full members | 10 | 2011 | Champions | 5 | A | |
| Full members | 10 | 2011 | Champions | 6 | B | |
| Full members | 10 | 2011 | Champions | 7 | B | |
| Full members | 4 | 2011 | Super 8 | 8 | A | |
| Full members | 10 | 2011 | Semi-finals | 9 | A | |
| Full members | 8 | 2011 | Super 6 | 10 | B | |
| WCL Championship | 2 | 2011 | Super 8 | 11 | B | |
| WCL Championship | 0 | — | — | 12 | A | |
| World Cup Qualifier | 2 | 2007 | Group stage | 13 | A | |
| World Cup Qualifier | 1 | 1996 | Group stage | 14 | B |
Preparations
Local organising committee
In preparation for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, the organising committee of the tournament was finalised. John Harnden was named chief executive, James Strong as chairman, and Ralph Waters was named as the deputy chairman. Following Strong's death in March 2013, Waters became chairman.Allocation of matches
When Australia and New Zealand bid for the 2011 Cricket World Cup in 2006, they said that it will see a 50–50 split in games. Finally, it was decided on 30 July 2013 that Australia would host 26 matches, while New Zealand got a share of 23 matches in the tournament. There was a tense battle between Melbourne and Sydney to host the final. On 30 July 2013, it was announced that Melbourne would host the final, with Sydney and Auckland hosting the semi-finals.Visas
It was announced that spectators travelling to World Cup matches in New Zealand who would otherwise not be entitled to a visa waiver, would be able to enter New Zealand if they held an Australian visitor visa. This was a special Trans-Tasman Visa Arrangement for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.Media and promotion
The World Cup has grown as a media event with each tournament. The International Cricket Council has sold the rights for broadcasting of the 2015 Cricket World Cup for US$2 billion to ESPN Star Sports and Star Sports. According to Strong, the Local Organising Committee wants to make the tournament the most fan-friendly event of its kind and take cricket to a wide range of communities throughout Australia and New Zealand.Sachin Tendulkar was named by the ICC as the World Cup Ambassador for the second time, after filling the role at the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Tickets for India v Pakistan in Adelaide reportedly sold out within 12 minutes of going on sale. The match received an average television audience in India of 14.8% of TV-equipped households. The semi-final, Australia–India, had a higher average rating in India, 15.0%, but no 2015 match surpassed the 2011 Final among Indian viewers. The 2015 World Cup came at a time of declining viewing figures for cricket in India. Broadcaster Star Sports claimed that its coverage reached 635 million viewers in India. An ICC-commissioned report claimed that the tournament was watched by over 1.5billion people.
Broadcasting rights
The following networks broadcast the tournament:| Location | Television broadcaster | Radio broadcaster | Web streaming |
| Afghanistan | Cable/satellite Ariana Television Network, Lemar TV | ||
| Australia | ABC, 3AW | Fox Sports | |
| Africa | SuperSport | ||
| Arab World | Cable/satellite OSN Sports Cricket | OSN.com/PlayWavo.com | OSN, Play Wavo |
| Bangladesh | Cable/satellite Bangladesh Television, Maasranga TV, Gazi Television and Star Sports | Bangladesh Betar | Star Sports |
| Bhutan | Star Sports | ||
| Canada | Cable/Satellite : Sportsnet Rogers Communications | EchoStar | broadband : Rogers Cable |
| Central America | ESPN | ||
| Europe | Star Sports | ||
| Fiji | Fiji TV Fiji Broadcasting Corporation | Star Sports | |
| India | All India Radio AIR FM Rainbow | ||
| United Kingdom and Ireland | BBC Radio | BSkyB | |
| New Zealand | Sky Sport | ||
| Pakistan | Star Sports | ||
| Singapore | Star Cricket | ||
| South Africa | Free-to-air: South African Broadcasting Corporation 30 matches Cable/satellite: SuperSport | SABC | SuperSport |
| Sri Lanka | Free-to-air: Channel Eye Cable/satellite: Star Sports | Star Sports | |
| United Arab Emirates | OSN | ||
| United States | Satellite : ESPN | Broadband : WatchESPN | |
| Caribbean | Free-to-air: CMC Satellite : ESPN | CMC | CMC |
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