The Melbourne Cricket Ground has been given the honour of hosting the final of the 2015 Cricket World Cup final.
The International Cricket Council released details of the co-hosted 2015 World Cup on Tuesday, with Melbourne being the biggest beneficiary.
Christchurch will host the opener with semi-finals to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Auckland’s Eden Park. Other games will be played in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Christchurch, Dunedin, Napier, Nelson, Hamilton, Hobart, Perth and Wellington.
The tournament will feature 49 matches to be played over 44 days. Both Australia and New Zealand have both been drawn in Pool A alongside England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and two yet to qualify nations.
Pool B includes South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and a qualifier.
Christchurch has been honoured with the tournament opener on February 14, four years after the city suffered a devastating earthquake which killed 200 people. The city was forced to cancel Rugby World Cup games later in 2011.
“We need to make certain (the tournament) captures the hearts and minds of everybody and so in New Zealand and all the discussions, Christchurch was obviously a very big issue,” tournament chief executive John Harnden told reporters at the launch in Melbourne’s Docklands.
“And what a great opportunity, for all the people in Christchurch who have done so much hard work to rebuild their city and get it back open for business, to broadcast that to the world.”
Victoria is set to reap the financial benefits of hosting the tournament finale with more than a million people expected to attend the World Cup in both nations and further billion fans to watch the event on television.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that a significant amount of spending will go into stadium upgrades ahead of the tournament.
“We won’t be able to keep people away,” he said at the launch event.
“In total the 2015 World Cup will deliver $360 million of expenditure.”
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