Australia will aim to match Pakistan's achievement when it launches the defence of its ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup title against traditional rival and former champion England at the Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville on the opening day of the 16-day tournament on Saturday 11 August. This will be one of the 10 matches from the Tony Ireland Stadium, along with two quarter-finals, two semi-finals and the final on Sunday 26 August, which will be televised live by ESPN Star Sports, ICC's global broadcast partners.

Together with Australia and England, also in action in Townsville on the opening day will be Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea (PNG) who will face each other at Endeavour Park 1, while four Asian rivals will go head to head in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast with Sri Lanka meeting Bangladesh at the Allan Border Field and Pakistan taking on Afghanistan at the John Blanck Oval.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) 2015 Cricket World Cup Local Organising Committee today met with the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, and Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, in Melbourne Australia. To mark the occasion, the Prime Ministers were each presented with a specially produced ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC2015) bat signed by the captains of the Australian and New Zealand cricket teams, Michael Clarke and Ross Taylor.

Chairman of the ICC CWC2015 Local Organising Committee (LOC), James Strong, said the support of both Prime Ministers is critical to the delivery of a successful event on and off the field.

The ICC Executive Board will be requested to reconsider the composition of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 during the ICC Annual Conference in Hong Kong at the end of June 2011.

At the recent ICC Executive Board meeting in Mumbai on 4 April 2011, the Board decided to allow only the 10 Full Members to participate in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015. The Board had also confirmed its previous decision made in October 2010 that the next two World Cups (in 2015 and 2019) would comprise 10 teams.

Why the decision of ICC – to curtail the number of teams that can qualify for the 2015 World Cup to 10 teams – is in danger of being retrograde.

Now that a most successful World Cup is behind us, the focus shifts on to an all-important decision which was taken by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday for the next one down under. As the cricketing world – and more importantly the Associates – waited, with bated breath, to be told of their future, disbelief and disappointment gave way to a sense of betrayal and an outpour of expletives on the twitter accounts of Irish players after the ICC reduced the number of teams that would be allowed to participate in the 2015 World Cup to 10, thus effectively shutting out the emerging Associate Nations.

As the dust settles on this amazing World Cup, a tournament that promised so much and delivered more, we look back at some of the precocious talent which emerged out of it, to promise exciting times ahead for cricket.

The World Cup is, and always has been, a celebration of the greats of the game as they seek the one final shot, before they put in their papers, towards global glory, the ultimate reward as a cricketer. This is a time of flux for squads the world over; as the baton is sought to be passed to the next generation, the younger lot are bequeathed the legacy of greats gone by, and the shiny new talents exhibit the things to come.

As the dust settles on India’s triumph in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has described the victory as the best moment of his long and illustrious career.

“I am speechless, to be honest, to express myself and how I feel. This is by far the best moment. This is the moment I have been waiting for, for such a long time, 21 or 22 years. It is really worth every bit of it. It is really, really special,” said Tendulkar.

As many as seven players from World Cup Finalists India and Sri Lanka found a plce in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 team of the tournament, which was announced today in Mumbai.

The XI was chosen by a select group of experts tasked with picking a balanced side on the basis of performances in the tournament, and players suited for sub-continental conditions. Statistics were used, but were not the sole basis for selections.

India batsman Yuvraj Singh was today named as the player of the tournament at the conclusion of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at Wankhede, Mumbai.

Yuvraj was the unanimous choice of a select group of experts* following his sensational form that helped guide his side to the title before an adoring home crowd. The 29-year-old batted eight innings in the tournament, scoring a total of 362 at an average of 86.19.

He also took 15 wickets at an average of 25.13 and an economy-rate of 5.02 with his more-than-useful slow left-arm bowling.