{"id":7258,"date":"2014-03-06T07:33:01","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T07:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/?p=7258"},"modified":"2014-03-02T12:47:01","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T12:47:01","slug":"icc-cricket-world-cup-2015-countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/achieve\/sports\/icc-cricket-world-cup-2015-countdown\/","title":{"rendered":"ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 – countdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ICC<\/a><\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s love affair with cricket hits an all-time high as the country celebrates 12 months to go until the opening match of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Countdown clocks started ticking in the seven host cities around New Zealand as giant cricket balls were rolled out to show the world that a warm Kiwi welcome awaits visitors arriving for the major event next year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

New Zealand\u2019s host cities are Auckland, Hamilton, Napierand Wellington in the North Island and Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin in the South Island.<\/p>\n

A giant inflatable cricket ball has also been bouncing around New Zealand\u2019s top holiday spots to spread news of the forthcoming World Cup and give visitors a glimpse of what awaits them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prime Minister John Key became the first person to show his passion for cricket and New Zealand by signing the giant ball at the Basin Reserve \u2013 Wellington\u2019s famous cricket ground \u2013 at a reunion of New Zealand\u2019s 1992 squad during the NZ vs India test match.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is 23 years since New Zealand last hosted the Cricket World Cup and the tournament has now become one of the biggest sporting events in the world. A million people are expected to attend matches and another billion to watch on television.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

New Zealand will co-host the 2015 World Cup with Australia and tickets to all matches went on general sale last month.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ICC Cricket World Cup\u2019s 49 match schedule is set to be played from 14 February – 29 March 2015 and New Zealand will play host to the 14 teams from every competing nation. The opening game will be played between New Zealand and Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval in the South Island city of Christchurch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The tournament is a valuable opportunity to showcase New Zealand as one of the world\u2019s most popular tourist destinations and further cement the country\u2019s reputation for successfully hosting major sporting events.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tourism New Zealand\u2019s Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says the event is about taking the attention New Zealand gains as host of the event and using it to tell the world that New Zealand is a beautiful place to visit, with friendly people and unforgettable experiences.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOur message to the millions of cricket fans is that the\u00a02015 ICC Cricket World Cup offers the unique chance to experience the buzz of a global sports event that allows ample time to explore a stunningly diverse and beautiful country in between matches.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand\u2019s compact nature simplifies travel and makes it easy to access all venues while experiencing diverse landscapes and a variety of visitor attractions along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Countrywide support in the sports-mad nation is already gearing up for the Cricket World Cup and visitors can expect to experience legendary Kiwi hospitality as they travel around New Zealand.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"NZ-cricket-007\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Therese Walsh, Head of New Zealand for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 says New Zealanders have already shown the world how well they can host a World Cup. \u201cI think Kiwi fans will not want to miss seeing big names and we\u2019ve seen before how well our country can get into the spirit of a tournament and get behind smaller nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said New Zealanders were also truly behind their own team and this summer\u2019s one-day series against India had shown how special the 50 over game can be. \u201cBut the atmosphere and experience at the World Cup will be something else again.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With tickets on sale and travel packages now available, fans can begin planning their summer 2015 visit to New Zealand for the Cricket World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information on New Zealand visit www.newzealand.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on the ICC Cricket World Cup visit\u00a0 www.cricketworldup.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With one year to go, Elysium Magazine counts down to the ICC Cricket World Cup in New Zealand! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[275],"tags":[2739,581,2738,2740,824,362,2741],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/453689-222897-14.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7258"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7263,"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7258\/revisions\/7263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elysium-uk.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}