What does it mean to play at a World Cup in England and Wales?
England and Wales will host the 12th edition of the Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2019. It’ll be the fifth time the World Cup has been held in the UK – and the first in 20 years.
What does it mean to play the CWC 2019 in the UK?
With the tournament less than 300 days away, some of cricket’s leading names shared their excitement at the prospect of being part of a World Cup in the home of cricket next year.
Tamim Iqbal – Bangladesh“Playing in England is always special, I call it a ‘home away from home’ because a lot of Bangladeshis are here. We get a lot of support, in the last Champions Trophy when we were playing against England we had more supporters than England! It really excites me whenever I get the opportunity to play in England, I’m really looking forward to it.”
Eoin Morgan – England“I think it’s a really exciting opportunity. The support that we have had in the previous three summers has been fantastic and I think with it being a World Cup the support is only going to be ramped up. Everyone’s going to be excited and hopefully get behind us and I’m hoping we can do everyone proud.”
Trent Boult – New Zealand“I think it’s an exciting place to play cricket, there’s obviously a lot of history with the UK and cricket, so to go there and play at some of the grounds with a lot of history and against the best players in the world is a dream come true.”
Mickey Arthur – Pakistan coach“I think cricket in the UK is so special. I think every time you go back to play in England it feels like you’re going home in terms of cricket; it’s certainly where cricket originated. The grounds are fantastic, the crowds are fantastic and we certainly as a Pakistan team get unbelievable support in England and it feels like a home away from home for us.”
Chris Morris – South Africa“The UK is quite a special place to play cricket, I’ve played two Champions Trophies there. It’s the home of cricket, it’s got a lot of traditions and the support in England is brilliant. A lot of ‘non-cricket’ supporters come out and they’re loud and enjoy the festivities. It’s a special moment and occasion to be part of, even if you don’t usually watch cricket.”
Jason Roy – England“Just to be playing in a World Cup will be an absolute honour - to be playing it in your home country, in front of your home crowd as well will be something extremely special and I can only assume it will be the highlight of my career, if selected.”