The Format

All matches will be day games, except in Cape Town and Durban, where all games (five at each venue) will be day-night affairs, the only two centres where day-night games are scheduled.

The 14 teams (see Pools) will play each other in the preliminary or pool section on a round-robin basis. There will be 42 preliminary matches played over 24 days.

The top three teams from each pool will proceed to the next stage of the tournament, known as the 'Super Six', carrying with them the points scored in matches against the other qualifying teams in their pool.

The Super Six will be played over a period of nine days, during which there will be two days on which no matches will be played, and two days on which there will be two matches per day. In the latter case, one match will be a day game and the other a day-night game.

The Super Six will determine the four teams that will contest the semi-finals -- a day game in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday, March 18, and a day-night game in Durban on Thursday, March 20.

In the semi-finals, Team 1 plays Team 4 and Team 2 plays Team 3.

Games in South Africa will be staged in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Centurion, Bloemfontein, Paarl, Potchefstroom, East London, Benoni, Kimberley and Pietermaritzburg.

Games in Zimbabwe will be staged at Harare and Bulawayo -- three games each. The two games in Kenya will be staged at Nairobi.

The Toss

Point system

In the event of teams finishing on equal points in either Group, the right to play in the Super Six stage will be decided in the following order of priority:

• The most wins in the Group Matches.
• When two teams have both equal points and equal wins, the team which was the winner of the Group Match played between them will be placed in the higher position. When more than two teams have equal points and equal wins, the team which was the winner of most number of matches played between those teams will be placed in the higher position.
• If still equal, the team with the higher net run rate in the Group matches will be placed in the higher position (refer to 6. below for the calculation of net run rate).
• If still equal, the team with the higher number of wickets taken per balls bowled in the Group Matches in which results were achieved will be placed in the higher position.
• In the highly unlikely event that teams cannot be separated by the above this will be done by drawing lots.

The six teams that qualify for the Super Six phase carry forward the points that they have gained in the Group Matches as follows:

• Win v other qualifiers - 4 points each (Tie or no result - 2 points each)
• Win v non-qualifiers - 1 point each (Tie or no result - ½ point each) The points carried forward by each team are added to those they gain in the Super Six Matches, to form the Super Six league table. In the event of teams finishing on equal points at the end of the Super Six stage, the right to play in the Semi-final will be decided in the following order of priority:
• The most wins in all of the matches throughout the competition against the other Super Six qualifiers. When two teams have both equal points and equal wins, the team which was the winner of the matched played between them (in either the Group or Super Six Matches) will be placed in the higher position.
• When more than two teams have equal points and equal wins, the team which was the winner of the most number of matches played between those teams (in both the Group and Super Six Matches) will be placed in the higher position.
• If still equal, the team with the higher net run rate in all matches played against the other Super Six qualifiers (in both the Group and Super Six Matches) will be placed in the higher position (refer to 6. below for calculation of net run rate).
• If still equal, the team with the higher number of wickets taken per balls bowled in all of the matches throughout the competition against the other Super Six qualifiers in which results were achieved, will be placed in the higher position.
• In the highly unlikely event that teams cannot be separated by the above this will be done by drawing lots.

If a Semi-final is tied or there is a no result, the team that finished higher at the end of the Super Six phase as decided by clause 3. shall proceed to the Final.

In the event of a tied Final or if there is no result in the three days allocated, the World Cup and prize money will be shared by the finalists.

Net Run Rate

For the purpose of 3. above, a team's net run rate is calculated by deducting from the average runs per over scored by that team in all matches played against the Super Six qualifiers, the average runs per over scored against that team in all such matches.

In the event of a team being all out in less than its full quota of overs, the calculation of its net run rate shall be based on the full quota of overs to which it would have been entitled and not on the number of overs in which the team was dismissed.

Only those matches where results are achieved will count for the purpose of net run rate calculations. Where a match is abandoned, but a result is achieved under Duckworth/Lewis, for net run rate purposes Team 1 will be accredited with Team 2's Par Score on abandonment off the same number of overs faced by Team 2. Where a match is concluded but with Duckworth/Lewis having been applied at an earlier point in the match, Team 1 will be accredited with 1 run less that the final Target Score for Team 2 off the total number of overs allocated to Team 2 to reach the target.

Base Camps

West Indies in Bloemfontein,
Australia in Potchefstroom,
South Africa in Cape Town,
Pakistan in Johannesburg,
India in Durban,
Bangladesh in Maritzburg,
New Zealand in Pretoria,
Sri Lanka in Kimberley,
Kenya in East London,
England in Port Elizabeth,
Namibia in Benoni,
Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe,
Canada in Johannesburg,
Holland in Paarl.

Rankings

The teams taking part in the eighth ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 are ranked according to a system first proposed by the United Cricket Board of South Africa and adopted by the International Cricket Council.

The system charted the results of all teams from the end of the seventh ICC Cricket World Cup in June 1999 up till the end of September 2001. Here are the results and final percentages for all teams with official limited overs international status.

TEAM	P	W	L	T	NR	% WON
1. Australia	52	40	10	1	1	78.43
2. South Africa	59	39	18	1	1	67.24
3. Sri Lanka	60	37	21	1	1	62.71
4. Pakistan	65	37	27	1	0	56.92
5. India	71	34	36	0	1	48.57
6. West Indies	60	24	34	0	2	41.38
7. New Zealand	53	20	31	0	2	39.22
8. England	30	11	18	0	1	37.93
9. Zimbabwe	66	17	48	0	1	26.15
10. Bangladesh	9	0	9	0	0	00.00
11. Kenya	7	0	7	0	0	00.00
Note: The % Won calculation excludes "No Result" matches.