West Indies will open its 2019 World Cup campaign against nemesis Pakistan in its bid for a third title in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) premier 50 overs masterpiece.
The ICC, world governing body, formally released the schedule for the May 30 to July 14 West Indies, two-time winners will play matches in Southampton, Manchester and Nottingham, with other fixtures also carded for Taunton, Chester-le- Street and Leeds but have been kept away from the London venues of the Oval and Lord’s.
West Indies will take on Pakistan in Nottingham on May 31, having not beaten the Asian side in a bilateral series in 27 years, winning just four of the last 19 One-Day Internationals against them.
The regional team will clash with world champions Australia on June 6 also in Nottingham before facing South Africa four days later in Southampton and taking on Bangladesh three days later.
The Windies will then do battle with host England on June 14 and will take on New Zealand (June 22) and India (June 27) in two Manchester fixtures, play Sri Lanka at Chester-le- Street on July before wrapping up their preliminary camping on July 4 against Afghanistan at Leeds.
All 10 teams will play each other in the preliminaries with the top four teams progressing to the semi-finals carded for Manchester and Birmingham on July 9 and 11.
West Indies will not play a single game at the historic Oval in London, where most of their traditional Caribbean support can be found.
However, the ground will be the scene of the tournament opener between England and South Africa.
