England travel for over 30 hours to reach Cricket World Cup in India

Some of the England Cricket Team faced journeys of over 30 hours to reach the Cricket World Cup

Sonia Twigg
Friday 29 September 2023 10:35 BST
Comments
England faced a lengthy journey to reach the tournament
England faced a lengthy journey to reach the tournament (EPA)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The England cricket team faced a lengthy multiple-leg journey to reach India ahead of the Cricket World Cup.

England will take on India in their first warm-up match ahead of the tournament at the Assam Cricket Association Stadium in Barsapara, Guwahati on 30 September.

For some of the 15-man squad, it was a lengthy journey of over 30 hours, involving multiple changes.

They finished the journey in economy, with opening batter Jonny Bairstow posting a photo on his Instagram showing Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler looking tired on their travel to Guwahati.

Bairstow claimed the journey was more than 38 hours, which would be far from ideal preparation ahead of a meeting with India.

India are the number one ranked ODI team in the world, and recently won two matches comfortably in home conditions against Australia in a pre-tournament series.

England have two warm up matches, against India and Bangladesh before the main tournament starts on 5 October.

In the flagship opener, England will play New Zealand in a repeat of the thrilling 2019 World Cup final, which saw then captain Eoin Morgan lift the trophy after a match that could only be decided on a super over.

Anticipation has been building ahead of the tournament, with the first warm up matches featuring Pakistan, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on 29 September.

The tournament itself will see 10 teams: England, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the Netherlands play each other in a round-robin format before the knockout stages.

The top four teams will qualify directly for the semi-finals, and then the final will be held on 19 November at the 134,000-seater stadium in Ahmedabad, the same venue as the first match.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in