World Cup 2023: Warm-ups, schedules and venues

Australia and India will have to switch to World Cup mode just three days after they finish their ODI series next month in Rajkot when they take on Netherlands and England respectively in warm up matches on September 30.

Afghanistan will meanwhile face South Africa in their warm up match on September 29, the same day that Pakistan meets New Zealand and Bangladesh faces Sri Lanka.

India will travel to Guwahati for their first warm-up, while Australia will fly to Trivandrum for their match. Both these sides, along with Afghanistan and New Zealand have warm-ups scheduled in different cities.

The other six teams will all be stationed in one city for their warm-ups. Hyderabad plays host to Pakistan, while Guwahati hosts England, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The southern coastal town of Trivandrum will host Netherlands and South Africa.

India and Pakistan will round off the tournament’s warm-ups by playing Netherlands and Australia respectively on the final day on October 3, before the teams disperse towards their respective venues for their tournament opener. All warm-up games are day-night fixtures that will commence at 2pm local time, with all 15 members of the playing squad permitted to play.

In a late development, ESPNcricket reported Wednesday afternoon that police in Hyderabad have expressed their inability to provide adequate security for the Pakistan-New Zealand warm up match due to festivals taking place there at the time.

The teams are scheduled to play a warm up match on September 29 but Hyderabad Cricket Association has taken the decision to let the game be played “behind closed doors” – or without spectators.

Observers say this will impact the fans who bought tickets for the match. There has been a question mark over this warm up match after Hyderabad police told the local association that it would struggle to meet the security demands put in place by the ICC for World Cup matches including the warm-ups.

This is because of two major religious festivals, which take place around the same date as the match and involve large crowd gatherings.

Hyderabad is one of three venues, along with Trivandrum and Guwahati, that will host the warm-up segment of the tournament, to be played between September 29 and October 3, before the tournament proper starts on October 5.

Once again Ariana Television Network (ATN) will bring all the fun directly into the homes of cricket fans across Afghanistan. In addition to broadcasting World Cup matches live daily, ATN will also broadcast the warm up matches live.

So with just days to go before this thrilling tournament gets underway, be sure to keep an eye on our website and social media platforms for all updates and broadcast schedules.