London Stadium set to miss out on hosting Cricket World Cup matches

The Olympic Stadium in London looks set to miss out on hosting matches in next summer’s ICC Cricket World Cup.

Fixtures for the 10-team, 50-over showpiece, which like the 1992 tournament will feature an all-plays-all group stage leading into semi-finals and the final, are yet to be announced and still need sign-off by the International Cricket Council board.

But certain matches have begun to seep out of the ICC’s ongoing meetings in Kolkata this week, with the highly anticipated India versus Pakistan group game reportedly due to meet at Old Trafford in Manchester on 16 June.

Both this match and England’s clash with rivals Australia had been tentatively pencilled in to take place at the London Stadium in the hope of filling its 60,000 capacity and setting a record crowd for a cricket match in the United Kingdom.

While the proposed outfield at the venue met the minimum boundary sizes for a one-day international, to host cricket would have involved a costly transformation and required a successful test event this summer.

But now one official has told the Guardian that at this stage, hosting cricket at the Olympic Stadium during the World Cup looks to be “a thing of the past”. A previous report in the Times suggested the undersoil heating used by current tenants West Ham created an issue for the proposed drop-in pitches.

It means the tournament will revert to its original 11 host venues over its 46-day schedule: The Oval, Edgbaston, Trent Bridge, Headingley, Old Trafford, Taunton, Bristol, Chester-le-Street, Southampton, Cardiff and Lord’s.

The latter is due to host the final on 14 July, with reserve days scheduled for this and the two semi-finals that precede it and are reportedly due to be played Edgbaston and Old Trafford.

Last month saw West Indies and Afghanistan seal the final two qualifying spots, with defending champions Australia, hosts England, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand and Bangladesh making up the 10 teams.