ICC World Cup 2011 : Format

Late in 2007, the four host nations agreed upon a revised format for the 2011 World Cup identical to the 1996 World Cup, the only change being the no. of teams as it was 12 in 1996 and 14 in 2011. The first round of the tournament will be a round-robin in which the 14 teams are divided into 2 groups of 7 teams each. The 7 teams play each other once with the top 4 from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals.The format ensures that each team gets to play a minimum of 6 matches even if they are ruled out of the tournament due to early defeats.