The countdown to the ICC Cricket World Cup returning to Leeds for the first time in 20 years has begun and tournament organisers have today announced the ticket timeline for the year ahead.
Next year’s tournament, which will feature 10 teams across 48 matches between 30 May and 14 July, will be the fourth time England & Wales have hosted the global event.
To reward the hard work that goes into running the game across England & Wales, anyone in the cricket family will get priority access to the ticket ballot on 1 May. There will then be a public ballot in July. Ticket prices and the full match schedule will be announced at the end of March.
Whether its players, coaches, umpires or fans, this will be their chance to beat the rush and book their seats early. The full match schedule and ticket prices will be announced at the end of March.
Register now at cricketworldcup.com to make sure you get the latest ticket news delivered direct to your inbox.
To mark the 500 days to go milestone, we look back at the last time Leeds hosted World Cup cricket.
The first three Cricket World Cups were held in England & Wales, before it returned in 1999 for the 7th edition, which Australia won by defeating Pakistan in the final at Lord’s.
On the pitch in 1999, Australia were just starting to assert their dominance on the one-day international game, claiming the first of their hat-trick of World Cup successes, but it wasn’t without drama, namely that Semi-Final against South Africa.
Emerald Headingley hosted three fixtures at the World Cup in 1999, so we decided to turn the clocks back 19 years to that summer and re-live the games that took place at Leeds.
Pakistan v Australia (23 May 1999)
Pakistan won by 10 runs
While Australia got the better of Pakistan in the Final at Lord’s to lift the Trophy for a second time, it was Pakistan who took the honours when they met in the group stage at Headingley.
The fixture was littered with superstars on both sides – Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath to name but a few – as the Headingley crowd was treated to an exciting encounter between the two eventual finalists.
After being put in to bat by Australia captain Steve Waugh, Pakistan looked to be struggling after losing their first three wickets for just 46 runs. In strode captain Inzamam, who hit a man-of-the-match winning 81 off 104 balls, sharing a crucial partnership of 118 with Abdul Razzaq, who himself ended on 60.
A valuable knock of 31 from just 12 balls from number eight Moin Khan helped Pakistan finish on 278/5 at the end of their 50 overs.
It was a dream start with the ball for Pakistan, as Akram bowled Adam Gilchrist for a duck to leave Australia 0 for 1. Mark Waugh (41) and Ponting (47) steadied the ship, and 49 from Steve Waugh and 61 from Michael Bevan put the Aussies at 238/6.
However, their tail failed to finish the job, with scores of 1, 1 and 0 for Warne, Paul Reifell, and McGrath respectively seeing their chase end 10 runs shy.
