Cricket South Africa shortlists eight venues for ODI World Cup 2027

Cricket South Africa on Wednesday, April 10 confirmed the eight venues for the ODI World Cup 2027. Notably, Zimbabwe and Namibia will co-host alongside South Africa but there has been no update regarding the venues that they have shortlisted. However, Harare Sports Club remains one of the favourite venues, given that the national team plays the majority of their games in the capital city.

Sharing an update on the venues, South Africa's chief executive officer, Pholetsi Moseki stated that the venues were shortlisted keeping in mind the availability and hotels.

“The exercise was a scientific one and also included the number of hotel rooms and the availability of an airport. If there was disappointment, it was also tempered by the reality that was based on the venues that were chosen," Moseki was quoted as saying by the South African website.

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“We do indeed have 11 ICC-accredited venues, so it was hard to leave out three, but a whole lot of things were taken into consideration. There's also the important matter of training venues outside of the ones available at the venue,” he added.

Notably, Wanderers in Johannesburg, Centurion Park in Pretoria, Kingsmead in Durban, St George's Park in Gqeberha, Boland Park in Paarl, Newlands in Cape Town, the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein and Buffalo Park in East London are the eight venues that are selected to host the mega tournament. 

Meanwhile, South Africa and Zimbabwe have already qualified for the next ODI World Cup but despite being one of the hosts, Namibia will have to play qualifiers. United States of America, one of the hosts of the 2024 T20 World Cup however had the luxury of qualifying without playing the qualifiers.

The tournament will be hosted in the months of October and November but the International Cricket Council (ICC) is yet to confirm the dates. Meanwhile, instead of ten, there will be 14 teams playing in the tournament, as they will be divided into two groups of seven each.