Get your calculators ready ... the Super Sixes are back. Yesterday's announcement of the World Cup fixtures for 2003 – there will be a record 54 matches packed in to 43 days – revealed that the most-discussed and least-understood aspect of the 1999 tournament in England is being tried all over again. As already announced, the teams have been been split into two pools of seven. The top three from each group will progress to the Super Six stage, where the qualifiers from one group play the three which made it through from the other one. Each team carries forward the results against the other qualifiers from the initial group games, and it was this that caused controversy in England in 1999.

In the last World Cup Zimbabwe scored surprise wins over India and South Africa, the other qualifiers from their group, so carried forward four points. And Australia scored deliberately slowly when in sight of victory in their group match against West Indies to try to ensure that West Indies' run rate was superior to New Zealand's, because if West Indies qualified rather than New Zealand then Australia, who had lost to New Zealand but beaten West Indies, would carry forward more points ... it didn't work, because New Zealand qualified anyway, but it was unedifying stuff.

The decision to keep the Super Sixes makes it harder for England to qualify. They are in the harder of the two groups, alongside Australia, the holders, last time's runners-up Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe, as well as associate-member qualifiers Holland and Namibia. Only three of those teams will go forward to the second phase. Zimbabwe will have home advantage for all six of their first-round matches (Kenya, who are in the other group, will play two games in Nairobi).

The World Cup starts with an opening ceremony at Newlands, Cape Town, on Saturday February 8, 2003. The first match also takes place at Newlands, under lights the following day, when South Africa take on West Indies.

Australia, the holders, kick off their defence with a repeat of the 1999 final, against Pakistan at Johannesburg on February 11.

The final will be held at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on March 23.

Only ten of the matches, including one of the semi-finals, will be played under floodlights. Five of those will be at Cape Town, and the other five at Durban. It was decided not to try day/night games at other venues because of possible problems with dew.

Ali Bacher, chairman of the organising committee, said that drawing up the fixture list was one of the hardest tasks he had ever been involved in: "There were a number of broadcasting constraints placed upon us, including a reasonable request from Global Cricket Corporation [the TV-rights holders] that 12 of the 42 pool matches be staged on certain days and at certain times in order to maximise television revenue and the global TV audience.

"For example, they asked that the match between India and Pakistan should be a day game played on a weekend," said Bacher. "[They also asked] that India v England should be a day-night game, and that all Australia's and New Zealand's games be day games so they could enjoy early-evening prime-time television in those countries. We have met all 12 of the GCC requests."

Bacher claimed that around 1.3 billion people are expected to watch the competition. That includes around 800,000 spectators at the matches themselves, and a vast television audience.

Fixture list
The Wisden ODI table

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