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DEAR REDIFF

England's pot of gold lies at the
end of the World Cup rainbow

The 1996 Wills World Cup, co-hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, netted an astonishing 12 million pounds (estimated).

The next one, to be held in England in 1999, is expected to double that amount - and that, say experts, is a conservative estimate. The host nation will for its part reap 50 per cent of all profits - and that could be 12 million pounds right there, which means that this one tournament will net for England more than the 1996 edition netted for all three host nations combined.

"The history of the 1999 World Cup will say, in one line, that it was a huge success," was the optimistic sign off by Australian Michael Browning, who will be responsible for overall management and coordination of cricket's greatest tournament.

The schedule, which was released at Lord's on Tuesday, involves 11 nations ( the nine Test playing teams, besides Bangladesh and Kenya, winners and runners up respectively of the 1996 ICC Trophy tournament) and 42 games - six more than the schedule of the 1996 World Cup.

The tournament will be played out on 21 grounds, and watched by an estimated 500,000 spectators besides unnumbered billions who will comprise the television audience.

With this, the World Cup - of which the one in 1999 will be the seventh edition - will return to England, where it was first conceived and pioneered in 1975. England hosted the first three editions and, since then, the tournament has been hosted in the Asian sub-continent twice (co-hosted by India and Pakistan in 1987, and by India-Pakistan-Sri Lanka in 1996) and by Australia and New Zealand in 1992.

This time round, there has been a drastic change in format. Thus, the top three nations of both groups will move into a Super Group - being hyped as the Super Six - who will then play each other to decide the semifinalists.

The 1999 World Cup will take international cricket right across the host county, with all 18 English counties getting to host at least one game apiece. Besides, there will be one game each in Holland, Ireland and Scotland.

And in keeping with an increasingly market-oriented thinking among the game's movers and shakers, World Cup 1999 will come complete with roadshows, national quizzes, game shows, cricket clinics in schools, and all the rest of the hype and the hoopla.

Another interesting departure from the norm, as per tournament director Terry Blake, is that this time there will be no single sponsor for the tournament. Rather, the next edition of the World Cup will be sponsored by eight companies, who will together be named "global partners". Each of the eight will pay for the privilege of having their names associated with cricket's ultimate contest, and it is learnt that Vodaphone and NatWest have already signed up. A top flight agency is reportedly negotiating with other interesting parties, preliminary to finalising the remaining six sponsors.

The real bonanza will, however, come from television - and it is not yet clear which networks will carry the game live across the globe. Sky TV and BBC will, however, be given equal rights for coverage within the host nation.

Follows, the full schedule:

Group A: England, India, S Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Kenya.
Group B: Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, Scotland, New Zealand,                 Bangladesh.

Match schedules: Preliminary league phase:

May 14: England v Sri Lanka (Lord's).
May 15: India v S Africa (Hove), Zimbabwe v Kenya (Taunton).
May 16: Australia v Scotland (Worcester), West Indies v Pakistan               (Bristol).
May 17:NZ v Bangladesh (Chelmsford).
May 18: England v Kenya (Canterbury).
May 19: Sri Lanka v S Africa (Northampton), India v Zimbabwe               (Leicester).
May 20: Australia v NZ (Cardiff), Pakistan v Scotland               (Chester-le-Street).
May 21: West Indies v Bangladesh (Ireland, venue to be announced).
May 22: England v S Africa (Oval), Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka               (Worcester).
May 23: Kenya v India (Bristol), Australia v Pakistan (Headingley).
May 24: West Indies v NZ (Southampton), Scotland v Bangladesh               (Edinburgh).
May 25: England v Zimbabwe (Trent Bridge).
May 26: Sri Lanka v India (Taunton), S Africa v Kenya               (Amstelveen, Holland).
May 27: West Indies v Scotland (Leicester), Australia v Bangladesh               (Chester-le-Street).
May 28: NZ v Pakistan (Derby).
May 29: England v India (Edgbaston), Zimbabwe v S Africa               (Chelmsford).
May 30: Sri Lanka v Kenya (Southampton), West Indies v Australia               (Old Trafford).
May 31: Scotland v NZ (Edinburgh), Pakistan v Bangladesh               (Northampton).

Super League:

June 4: Group A 2nd v Group B 2nd (Oval).
June 5: Group A 1st v Group B 1st (Trent Bridge).
June 6: Group A 3rd v Group B 3rd (Headingley).
June 8: Group A 2nd v Group B 1st (Old Trafford).
June 9: Group A 3rd v Group B 2nd (Lord's).
June 10: Group A 1st v Group B 3rd (Edgbaston).
June 11: Group A 3rd v Group B 1st (Oval).
June 12: Group A 2nd v Group B 3rd (Trent Bridge).
June 13: Group A 1st v Group B 2nd (Headingley).

Semi Finals

June 16: Team 1 v Team 4 (Old Trafford).
               Team 2 v Team 3 (Edgbaston).

Final

June 20: (Lord's).