CHRISTCHURCH: The opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will be played between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday.
The match is scheduled to begin at 03:00 as per Pakistan Standard Time (PST).
As compared to Sri Lanka, New Zealand is in better form and among the World Cup favorites.
In their five recent one-day internationals (ODIs), New Zealand won four matches and had to face defeat only in one game whereas Sri Lanka won only two ODIs and lost in three games.
“We believe we are a good cricket team and we believe we have a chance in this World Cup but … there are some good teams around as well and we’re going to need things to fall in our favor,” New Zealand captain BB McCullum said in a statement.
“It’s going to be a fresh series for us, it’s the start of a World Cup and we’ve put everything else under the carpet and we’re just trying to be positive,” the Sri Lankan captain AD Mathews said while commenting on the recent series loss against New Zealand
New Zealand Squad
BB McCullum*, CJ Anderson, TA Boult, GD Elliott, MJ Guptill, TWM Latham, MJ McClenaghan, NL McCullum, KD Mills, AF Milne, L Ronchi†, TG Southee, LRPL Taylor, DL Vettori, KS Williamson
Sri Lanka Squad
AD Mathews*, HDRL Thirimanne, PVD Chameera, LD Chandimal, TM Dilshan, HMRKB Herath, DPMD Jayawardene, FDM Karunaratne, KMDN Kulasekara, RAS Lakmal, SL Malinga, BMAJ Mendis, NLTC Perera, KC Sangakkara†, SMSM Senanayake
The mega event is jointly being held in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29.
The final match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will take place on March 29 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
