A to Z of Cricket World Cup 2015: all you want to know

Single-page guide to 44-day, 49-match cricket extravaganza at 14 venues in Australia and New Zealand beginning Feb 14 in Christchurch and ending March 29 in Melbourne.

In less than 24 hours from now, Christchurch in New Zealand and Melbourne in Australia will host the opening matches of 11th ICC Cricket World Cup. And here's your one-stop, single-page guide to the 49-match cricket extravaganza spread over 44 days at 14 venues from February 14 to March 29.

No. of Teams: 14

No of Pools: 2

No. of Players: 210 (15 in each squad)

No. of matches: 49

No. of Days: 44 

No. of host cities: 14 (7 each in Australia and New Zealand)

No. of teams making WC debut: 1 (Afghanistan)

POOLS

Pool A: England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Scotland

Pool B: South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland, United Arab Emirates

VENUES

Australia: Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney

New Zealand: Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson, Wellington

ICC RANKINGS (at the start of the tournament)

Team: 1. Australia, 2. India, 3. South Africa, 4. Sri Lanka, 5. England, 6. New Zealand, 7. Pakistan, 8. West Indies, 9. Bangladesh, 10. Zimbabwe, 11. Afghanistan, 12. Ireland

Top-ranked ODI batsman: AB de Villiers (South Africa)

Top-ranked ODI bowler: Dale Steyn (South Africa) after Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal was barred due to suspect action and West Indies' Sunil Narine opted out.

Top ranked ODI allrounder: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)

DECISION REVIEW SYSTEM

The DRS will be used in all 49 matches.

FORMAT:

Teams finishing in top four positions from each group qualify for the quarter-finals.

Reserve days will be in place only for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.

The following point system will apply during the pool stage:

Win: 2 points

Tie, No result or abandoned game: 1 point

Loss: 0 points

In the event of teams finishing on equal points in their Pool, the right to play in the quarter-finals will be decided in the following order of priority:

- The team with the most wins in the Pool matches will be placed in the higher position.

- If there are teams with equal points and equal wins in the Pool matches then in such case the team with the higher net run rate (NRR) in the Pool matches will be placed in the higher position.

- If two or more teams are still equal, they will be ordered according to the head-to-head matches played between them (points then net run rate in those matches).

- In the highly unlikely event that teams cannot be separated by the above, teams will be ordered according to their original seeding.

- If all matches within a Pool are a no result, the top four seeded teams will progress to the quarter-finals.

Quarter-finals line-up:

Quarter-final 1: A1 vs B4

Quarter-final 2: A2 vs B3

Quarter-final 3: A3 vs B2

Quarter-final 4: A4 vs B1

Semi-finals line-up:

Semi Final 1: Winner of QF 1 vs Winner of QF 3

Semi Final 2: Winner of QF 2 vs Winner of QF 4

- In case of a quarter-final or a semi-final ends in a tie, the team finishing in the higher position in the pool stage will progress.

- If the final ends in a tie, Super Over will be used to decide the winner.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Match Referees: David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Chris Broad, Ranjan Madugalle and Roshan Mahanama.

Umpires (Emirates Elite Panel of ICC): Marais Erasmus, Nigel Llong, Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Billy Bowden, Bruce Oxenford, Ian Gould, Paul Reiffel, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Rod Tucker and Steve Davis.

Umpires (Emirates International Panel of ICC): Simon Fry, S Ravi, Joel Wilson, Johan Cloete, Chris Gaffaney, Michael Gough, Ranmore Martinesz and Ruchira Palliyaguru.

PRIZE MONEY (US$)

Winners: $3,250,000

Runners-up: $1,500,000

Semi-finalists: $500,000

Quarter-finalists: $250,000

Team finishing top of each group: $30,000

Teams exiting after league phase: $35,000

Total: $8,010,000

MOST EXPERIENCED PLAYER OF THE CUP

Sri Lanka veteran Mahela Jayawardene will play his fifth World Cup, having played 33 matches in the showpiece event so far.