Cricket World Cup 2023: Dates, schedule, fixtures and latest odds for the ODI tournament

The fixtures for this year’s Cricket World Cup have been announced. England will begin the defence of the title they won in 2019 against New Zealand in Ahmedabad on October 5 – a rematch of the nerve-racking 2019 final.

Jos Buttler’s side then play every other team in the tournament in a round-robin group stage that finishes with a match against Pakistan, the team they defeated in last year’s T20 World Cup final to become the first side to hold both white-ball World Cups simultaneously.

Ben Stokes, England’s Test captain and match-winner in the 2019 final, has been picked to play for England after U-turning on his decision to retire from one-day cricket. 

Who is hosting the World Cup?

India are hosting the tournament despite a tit-for-tat dispute with Pakistan about tournament boycotts. India had threatened to boycott the Pakistan-hosted Asia Cup in September; in retaliation, Pakistan threated to boycott the India-hosted World Cup. That dispute has been resolved, for now, by sharing the Asia Cup hosting rights between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India’s games at that tournament will be played in Sri Lanka. 

At the World Cup, however, Pakistan will be playing in India. The round-robin match between the two sides will be held in Ahmedabad on October 15. Click on this link or scroll down for a full list of fixtures. 

Who is taking part?

Only 10 teams will play at the tournament. They are: India, who qualified automatically as the hosts, New Zealand, England, Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and South Africa, all of whom qualified based on their results in ODI cricket since the 2019 World Cup, and Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, who earned their place via a qualifying tournament earlier this year. 

Among the teams who failed to qualify are previous World Cup winners West Indies, plus Ireland and Zimbabwe.

What is the format for the World Cup?

The 2023 edition follows the schedule used at the 2019 edition: a round-robin stage, followed by semi-finals and a final. In the round-robin all 10 teams will play each other once. A victory will be worth two points and a tie or no result will be worth one point. The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals, with the top-ranked team against the fourth-ranked team, and the second and third placed teams against each other.

The boundary countback rule, on the basis of which England won the 2019 World Cup final, has been dropped. From now on, if teams are tied in a knock-out game and still tied after a super over, they will continue to play super overs until a winner is found. 

Full fixtures and schedule

This World Cup was originally slated for the spring of 2023, but the coronavirus pandemic messed up calendars, prompting the ICC to push it back by six months. England’s fixtures are in bold.

Thursday, October 5

England v New Zealand – Ahmedabad

Friday, October 6

Pakistan v Netherlands – Hyderabad

Saturday, October 7

Bangladesh v Afghanistan – Dharamsala
South Africa v Sri Lanka – Delhi

Sunday, October 8 

India vs Australia – Chennai 

Monday, October 9

New Zealand v Netherlands – Hyderabad 

Tuesday, October 10 

England v Bangladesh – Dharamsala

Wednesday, October 11

India v Afghanistan – Delhi

Thurday, October 12

Pakistan v Sri Lanka – Hyderabad

Friday, October 13

Australia v South Africa – Lucknow

Saturday, October 14

England v Afghanistan – Delhi
New Zealand v Bangladesh – Chennai

Sunday, October 15

India v Pakistan – Ahmedabad

Monday, October 16

Australia v Sri Lanka – Lucknow

Tuesday, October 17

South Africa v Netherlands – Dharamsala

Wednesday, October 18

New Zealand v Afghanistan – Chennai

Thursday, October 19

India v Bangladesh – Pune

Friday, October 20

Australia v Pakistan – Bengaluru

Saturday, October 21

England v South Africa – Mumbai
Netherlands v Sri Lanka – Lucknow

Sunday, October 22

India v New Zealand – Dharamsala

Monday, October 23

Pakistan v Afghanistan – Chennai

Tuesday, October 24

South Africa v Bangladesh – Mumbai

Wednesday, October 25

Australia v Netherlands – Delhi

Thursday, October 26

England v Sri Lanka – Bengaluru

Friday, October 27

Pakistan v South Africa – Chennai

Saturday, October 28

Netherlands v Bangladesh – Kolkata
Australia v New Zealand –Dharamsala

Sunday, October 29

India v England – Lucknow

Monday, October 30

Afghanistan v Sri Lanka – Pune

Tuesday, October 31

Pakistan v Bangladesh – Kolkata

Wednesday, November 1

New Zealand v South Africa – Pune

Thurday, November 2

India v Sri Lanka – Mumbai

Friday, November 3

Qualifier 1 v Afghanistan – Lucknow

Saturday, November 4

England v Australia – Ahmedebad 
New Zealand v Pakistan – Bengaluru

Sunday, November 5

India v South Africa – Kolkata

Monday, November 6

Bangladesh v Sri Lanka – Delhi

Tuesday, November 7

Australia v Afghanistan – Mumbai

Wednesday, November 8

England v Netherlands – Pune

Thursday, November 9

New Zealand v Sri Lanka – Bengaluru 

Friday, November 10

South Africa v Afghanistan – Ahmedabad]

Saturday, November 11 

India v Netherlands – Bengaluru

Sunday, November 12

England v Pakistan – Kolkata 
Australia v Bangladesh – Pune

Wednesday, November 15

Semi-final 1, (First plays fourth) – Mumbai

Thursday, November 16

Semi-final 2, (Second plays third) – Kolkata

Sunday, November 19

Final – Ahmedabad

What are the latest odds?

India 5/2
England 13/4
Australia 9/2
Pakistan 7/1
New Zealand 10/1
South Africa 10/1
Sri Lanka 33/1
Bangladesh 100/1
Afghanistan 100/1
Netherlands 1000/1