Hosted by England and Wales, the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup is the 12th such event. It is held every four years and the nations taking part bid to host the tournament, organised by the International Cricket Council. The event was launched in 1975 and the current world champion is Australia.
Although England has made three appearances in the final (1979, 1987 and 1992), they have yet to win. Australia has won a total of five championships and is the most successful team in the world cup. The other past winners include the West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
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Changes for 2019
The 2019 event has seen some changes in the structure of the event, with only ten teams competing - a reduction from the 14 teams who competed in 2011 and 2015. This year's entrants are England, Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
This will be the first Cricket World Cup to be contested without all of the nations who play Test cricket. Ireland and Afghanistan were included in the Test in June 2017, but won't be taking part in the world cup. This has led to some criticism in the media.
The format this year will see each of the 10 teams playing the other nine once. At the end of the group stage, the top four will progress to the semi-final. The final will take place on 14th July.
The biggest ever crowd to watch the final live was when it was held at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India, in 1987. A massive 95,000 spectators saw Australia beat England by seven runs. The second-largest crowd watched the 2015 final at the MCG in Melbourne, Australia, when Australia beat New Zealand by seven wickets.
Bookies' odds
Although England has never won the world cup, the bookmakers are putting us down as favourites this year, with odds of 5/2 to win, thanks to the championship being on home soil.
England is also the only team in the world cup to have four batsmen (Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan) in the world top 20 ICC rankings, so our scoring ability is also cited as a reason for being favourites.
Although we have never won, this doesn't dampen the bookies' belief that the England team is going to buck the trend this year. However, we will be up against some stiff competition, in particular from India, who has odds of 3/1 to win.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are the world's top two batsmen and the Indian team also has the world's top bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, who has played 49 One Day International matches and has taken 85 wickets.
While England, India and Australia are the hottest-tipped teams to win, there's a big dip in the odds after the top three, with New Zealand and South Africa being the fourth joint-favourites, both at 10/1.
Venues and matches
Many different UK venues will be used for the world cup matches. As well as The Oval, matches will be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham, Headingley in Leeds, Old Trafford in Manchester and other leading grounds. The winning team will receive $4 million and the runner-up will receive $2 million.
After the England v South Africa match launches the championship on 30th May, starting at 10.30am, the West Indies meet Pakistan on 31st May at Trent Bridge, followed by two matches on 1st June: Afghanistan v Australia at the Bristol County Ground and New Zealand v Sri Lanka at the Cardiff Stadium in Wales.
England play their second game on Monday 3rd June, meeting Pakistan at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. For those fans who can't make it to watch live at the stadiums, there will be extensive television coverage. All of the games will be broadcast live on Sky Sports on its dedicated cricket channel.
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Good luck to the England team - we are rooting for you!