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ICC Cricket World Cup



Dates: 14 February - 29 March Hosts: Australia and New Zealand
Opening games: New Zealand v Sri Lanka at 22:00 GMT on Friday and Australia v England at 03:30 GMT on Saturday
BBC coverage: Live Test Match Special radio and text commentary on every match on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra & BBC Sport website, plus desktop, tablets, mobiles and app.

The 11th Cricket World Cup is set to start, with co-hosts Australia and New Zealand both playing on the first day. New Zealand's game against Sri Lanka gets the tournament of one-day matches under way at 22:00 GMT on Friday. Australia meet England in front of an expected 100,000 capacity crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground at 03:30 GMT on Saturday. India defend the title they won for the second time on home soil in 2011, with the final in Melbourne on 29 March. The 14 teams competing will take part in 49 matches, of 50 overs a side, across 14 venues, followed by an estimated global audience of more than one billion people.

"The World Cup is massive because it is one of those special times when all the teams come together," former England off-spinner Graeme Swann told BBC Sport. "There is a huge audience around the world, there is hype, and you feel the excitement as a player." The Cricket World Cup has been described as the third biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and football's World Cup. Participating nations are split into two groups of seven, with the top four in each group progressing to the quarter-finals. Both matches on the opening day are from Group A, which also includes Bangladesh and qualifiers Scotland and Afghanistan. India are in Group B and open their campaign against bitter rivals Pakistan in Adelaide on Sunday. Fellow Test-playing sides South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe are joined by Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.

the third biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and football's World Cup

The most important event of 2015!!

somehow, I find it very hard to believe 2.2 billion people even know what cricket is

the 2007 Cricket World Cup sold more than 672,000 tickets.

there are 49 "matches" so that works out to an attendance of less than 14,000 per match.

How to Watch ICC Cricket World cup 2015 Live online in USA

In the US, ESPN has acquired the exclusive rights to live stream the ICC Cricket world cup 2015. If you want to watch it on the television, you’d need to subscribe to Roku or Dish, and to watch the live streaming of world cup matches, you would need to subscribe for a special package which costs $99. That’ll let you watch cricket world cup on all mobile devices and tablets – including iOS and Android through the new ESPN Cricket 2015 apps. To be clear, you do NOT need a cable operator subscriber authentication to access and view content on this app.

Big RR wrote:I guess "biggest" is somehow defined as the most nations taking part in the competition, and not related in any way to the number of viewers/attendees.

eta: Well I stand corrected. From Wikipedia (so no vouching for the accuracy):

The tournament is the world's third largest (with only the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics exceeding it), being televised in over 200 countries to over 2.2 billion television viewers.[50][51][52][53] Television rights, mainly for the 2011 and 2015 World Cup, were sold for over US$1.1 billion,[54] and sponsorship rights were sold for a further US$500 million.[55] The 2003 Cricket World Cup matches were attended by 626,845 people,[56] while the 2007 Cricket World Cup sold more than 672,000 tickets.

somehow, I find it very hard to believe 2.2 billion people even know what cricket it, let alone watch it; but then 672,000 tickets astounds me as well.

World Cup 2015: Australia gave England a lesson - Agnew

Even though an opening day defeat to a very strong Australia side does little to England's long-term World Cup prospects, it will have been a chastening experience for Eoin Morgan's men.
England were not only beaten by 111 runs in Melbourne, they were given a lesson in how to play 50-over cricket by a team that are on a different level to them.
From 70-3, Australia recovered - as you have time to do in this form of the game - to 342-9, but they were helped by England's poor fielding and death bowling.

When faced with such a huge chase, England's batsmen had to take risks, but the top-order collapse was still very disappointing.
Moeen Ali played a poor shot and Gary Ballance looked to be feeling his way in, akin to a player who was playing his first competitive match on tour.
Still, the one bright spot of the day for England was provided by James Taylor, who was cruelly robbed of a maiden hundred by a run-out decision that was made in error.
Taylor was punchy, busy, playing creative strokes with strong wrists and fast hands.
Yet, the fact he was batting at number six after seemingly making the number three spot his own was yet another indictment of England's muddled thinking.

Co-hosts New Zealand got off to a winning start with a resounding 98-run victory over Sri Lanka in the opening match of the World Cup in Christchurch.

Captain Brendon McCullum struck 65 off 49 balls as the Black Caps put on a rapid 111 for the first wicket.
Kane Williamson added a composed 57 before Corey Anderson blasted 75 off 46 balls to help the hosts to an imposing total of 331-6 from their 50 overs.
In reply, Sri Lanka subsided to 233 all out, with Daniel Vettori taking 2-34

Baseball: 2015 spring training start dates for all 30 MLB teams

Major League Baseball's 30 franchises will begin spring training in the coming weeks. The New York Mets' pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie, Fla., on Feb. 19, with the New York Yankees' pitchers and catchers reporting to Tampa, Fla., the following day.

A look at the dates pitchers and catchers report for each team, with locations for each team's spring training facility in parentheses.

GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE (FLORIDA)

Atlanta: Feb. 20 (Lake Buena Vista)
Baltimore: Feb. 19 (Sarasota)
Boston: Feb. 20 (Fort Myers)
Detroit: Feb. 20 (Lakeland)*
Houston: Feb. 20 (Kissimmee)
Miami: Feb. 20 (Jupiter)
Minnesota: Feb. 22 (Fort Myers)
New York Mets: Feb. 19 (Port St. Lucie)
New York Yankees: Feb. 20 (Tampa)
Philadelphia: Feb. 19 (Clearwater)*
Pittsburgh: Feb. 18 (Bradenton)
St. Louis: Feb. 19 (Jupiter)
Tampa Bay: Feb. 21 (Port Charlotte)
Toronto: Feb. 23 (Dunedin)*
Washington: Feb. 19 (Viera)


CACTUS LEAGUE (ARIZONA)

Arizona: Feb. 19 (Scottsdale)
Chicago Cubs: Feb. 19 (Mesa)
Chicago White Sox: Feb. 20 (Glendale)
Cincinnati: Feb. 18 (Goodyear)
Cleveland: Feb. 18 (Goodyear)
Colorado: Feb. 21 (Scottsdale)*
Kansas City: Feb. 19 (Surprise)
Los Angeles Angels: Feb. 19 (Tempe)
Los Angeles Dodgers: Feb. 20 (Glendale)*
Milwaukee: Feb. 20 (Maryvale)
Oakland: Feb. 19 (Mesa)
San Diego: Feb. 19 (Peoria)
San Francisco: Feb. 19 (Scottsdale)*
Seattle: Feb. 20 (Peoria)
Texas: Feb. 20 (Surprise)

http://www.syracuse.com/patrick-stevens ... ining.html

India captain MS Dhoni said his team have set a standard they will need to maintain if they are to successfully defend their World Cup title.

Dhoni's men put a recent slump behind them by trouncing fierce rivals Pakistan by 76 runs in their opening Pool B match in Adelaide. "This game was fantastic for us," said Dhoni, 33. "It should be a benchmark.
"In the coming games we will be playing more tough sides and hopefully we can replicate this performance." India lost all three of their completed matches in the recent tri-series against Australia and England, which followed a 2-0 Test series defeat by the Aussies.

But they dominated from the start against Pakistan, with Virat Kohli scoring 107 in their total of 300-7. Pakistan kept in touch during the early stages of their run chase, but lost 5-52 in the middle overs and were eventually bowled out for 224. Dhoni said India had been reinvigorated by taking a 10-day break after the tri-series. "The break that we had helped us a lot," said Dhoni. "Everyone went off to do their own thing and then we came back.

David Miller and JP Duminy made a record one-day international fifth-wicket stand of 256 as South Africa recovered to beat Zimbabwe in their World Cup opener in Hamilton.

After a shaky start, Miller (138 not out off 92 balls) and Duminy (115 not out from 100) came together at 83-4. They blasted the Proteas to 339-4, including 111 off the last six overs, while Miller smashed 30 off the 48th. Hamilton Masakadza (80) helped Zimbabwe to 277 in reply, losing by 62 runs. South Africa - three-time beaten semi-finalists - were among the pre-tournament favourites, but were less than convincing here, despite winning their 27th consecutive ODI meeting with Zimbabwe. Hammered 5-0 by Bangladesh in their last ODI series, Zimbabwe were facing the highest successful run chase in World Cup history.

NBA All-Star Game 2015: Score, Stats & Highlights

Published 3:54 pm EST, February 15, 2015

Start time: 8 p.m. on TNT

The 2015 NBA All-Star Game marks the 64th game in league history, and will be played tonight from the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The East defeated the West 163-155 in last year’s game and Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving won the game’s Most Valuable Player Award.

The 2015 NBA All-Star Game rosters and starting lineups for the East and West can be found here. Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer was chosen to coach the East All-Stars and Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was chosen to coach the West All-Stars. Warriors’ guard Stephen Curry led the NBA in balloting this year with 1,513,324 votes.

http://heavy.com/sports/2015/02/nba-all ... video-tnt/

IRELAND have produced the first big shock of this year’s World Cup, beating the West Indies by four wickets at Saxton Oval.



Having been put in to bat, the West Indies appeared in real trouble midway through their innings, slumping to 5-93 at the 25-over mark.

But a superb 102 from Lendl Simmons and 89 from Darren Sammy rescued the innings and set Ireland a target of 305 to win.

Ireland were rarely troubled in the run chase, some late jitters aside, with Paul Stirling (92) and Ed Joyce (84) leading the charge.

New Zealand struck hard and struck early to beat Scotland by three wickets and become the first team to notch two World Cup wins.

Playing their first game of the tournament, the Scots never recovered from a devastating spell of new-ball bowling from Trent Boult and Tim Southee as they stumbled to 142 off 36.2 overs.

The Black Caps did some stumbling of their own as they flew to 7-146 in the 25th over. Kane Williamson top-scored with 38.

Despite the late staggers, it maintains New Zealand's momentum following a 98-run win over Sri Lanka in Christchurch, setting up a showdown with England in Wellington on Friday.

Trent Boult justified his mammoth IPL pay cheque, taking two wickets from his first two legitimate deliveries on a University Oval pitch which offered early life.

The Scots plunged to 4-12 as Boult (2-21) and Southee (2-35) bowled to attacking fields featuring up to five players in the slips cordon.

They removed three of the top five batsmen for golden ducks, all trapped lbw. Four batsmen in total fell on their first ball.

When Boult got full deliveries to thud into the pads of opener Calum MacLeod and Hamish Gardiner it would have been a welcome sight for management at Indian Premier League side Hyderabad, who bid $814,000 for his services at the IPL auction on Monday.

Matt Machan (56) and Richie Berrington (50) put on 97 for the fifth wicket but their departures resulted in a tumble of wickets courtesy of Daniel Vettori (3-24) and Corey Anderson (3-18).

An efficient Scottish bowling effort troubled New Zealand, who were in a hurry to knock off the runs and lost wickets at regular intervals.

Openers Martin Guptill (17) and Brendon McCullum (15) both snicked paceman Iain Wardlaw (3-57), giving wicketkeeper Matt Cross the first of his four catches.

The other dismissals were catches in the deep as the Black Caps took unnecessary risks while never looking likely to fall short of the target.

It was a surprise when the composed Williamson fell to seamer Josh Davey (3-40), while Grant Elliott's 29 proved important as Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi all lofted shots into the hands of boundary-riding fielders.