Eight of South Africa's most prominent stadiums will play host to the 2027 ICC ODI World Cup as per reports from News24 on Wednesday, April 10. The tournament will be jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia tentatively during October and November 2027.
The eight venues in South Africa will be the Wanderers in Johanessburg, Newlands in Cape Town, SuperSport Park in Centurion, Kingsmead in Durban, St George’s Park in Gqeberha, Boland Park in Paarl, Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein, and Buffalo Park in East London.
Notable omissions among the 11 accredited venues were Willowmoore Park in Benoni, JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom, and Diamond Oval in Kimberley.
Cricket South Africa's (CSA) CEO Pholetsi Moseki admitted the decision to omit the above-mentioned venues was hard to make as quoted by South Africa's News24.
"The exercise (of choosing the venues) 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. 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," said Moseki.
Apart from these venues, some of the games will also be played in Zimbabwe and Namibia. While South Africa and Zimbabwe have direct qualification for the tournament, Namibia will have to qualify through the African qualifiers.
What happened the last time a Men's ODI World Cup was played in South Africa?
It has been over two decades since South Africa last co-hosted a men's ODI Cricket World Cup. We have to go way back to 2003 when the Rainbow Nation staged the event along with Zimbabwe and Kenya.
Australia had a tournament to remember as they ran the table and remained undefeated in winning their then-third World Cup title. Led by Ricky Ponting, the Men in Yellow mauled Team India in the summit clash by 25 runs in front of a packed house in Johanessburg.
Meanwhile, it was another World Cup to forget for co-hosts South Africa as they exited the competition in a shock without qualifying for the Super Sixes.
The legendary Sachin Tendulkar was adjudged the Player of the Tournament for his incredible run of form, scoring the then-record in a single edition of 673 runs.
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