The London Stadium is "moving closer to hosting two matches over a weekend" in the 2019 Cricket World Cup, creating what the England & Wales Cricket Board hopes will be a "record-breaking festival of cricket," according to Tim Wigmore of the London GUARDIAN. The organizers of the World Cup would like the London Stadium to host one day-night match on a Friday and then a day game on a Sunday. Should the plans be ratified, England and India "seem certain to play a game each." The "probable fixtures would be England playing Australia, perhaps on the Friday under floodlights, and India playing Pakistan." Given the capacity for cricket is believed to be 60,000, the crowd for the India-Pakistan match "would be the highest for a game between the two countries outside the subcontinent." Playing two matches at the London Stadium over a weekend would "reduce operating costs and increase the visibility of the games." The World Cup organizing committee will meet to discuss the use of the stadium on May 11 and "hopes to confirm its decision in mid-July." While it had been thought the London Stadium could host Essex County Cricket Club T20 matches next summer, this "now appears unlikely." The World Cup matches would be the ground's first cricket games. The ECB is "conscious the total attendance for the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand topped one million and aspires to get as close to this figure as possible." Using the London Stadium for two matches would increase net capacity for games at the tournament to around 900,000 (GUARDIAN, 5/2).
