Sri Lanka has been placed in Group B of the 2027 Men’s Cricket World Cup and will play its first match against Qualifier B in Windhoek on 10 October 2027, according to the full fixture schedule released by the International Cricket Council on Thursday.
The tournament runs from 2 October to 21 November 2027 across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Sri Lanka qualified automatically
Fourteen teams will take part. South Africa and Zimbabwe qualified directly as hosts, alongside the eight highest-ranked sides on the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings at the 30 September 2026 cut-off — a list that includes Sri Lanka. The remaining four places go to the Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
That matters for the Sri Lankan calendar: the side does not have to go through the qualifying route, which had been a live question through this year’s rankings race.
Group B
Sri Lanka joins New Zealand, South Africa, England, Bangladesh and Qualifier B. Group A is India, Australia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Qualifier A.
Sri Lanka’s five group fixtures:
| Date | Opponent | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Oct 2027 | Qualifier B | Windhoek |
| 13 Oct 2027 | England | Windhoek |
| 16 Oct 2027 | Bangladesh | Durban |
| 20 Oct 2027 | New Zealand | Johannesburg |
| 22 Oct 2027 | South Africa | Johannesburg |
The England match is the last fixture to be played at the Namibia Cricket Ground during the tournament.
Super 7 and the seeding
The top three in each group advance to the Super 7 phase (25 October–14 November), along with the better of the two fourth-placed teams. No points carry over, and each side plays six further matches.
The ICC has pre-seeded several teams into designated Super 7 positions so that fans can plan travel and tickets in advance. Sri Lanka is seeded B3, which would mean an opening Super 7 match against Australia in Johannesburg on 25 October 2027.
The ICC stresses this is provisional: if a non-seeded team qualifies and a seeded team does not, the qualifier inherits the displaced team’s position. Were Bangladesh to go through in Sri Lanka’s place, Bangladesh would take the B3 slot and that fixture.
The group stage opens on 7 October 2027 in Cape Town with a repeat of the 2023 final, defending champions Australia against India. India play Pakistan in Johannesburg on 10 October. The semi-finals are on 17 and 18 November, and the final on Sunday 21 November 2027.
The Daily Mirror carried the schedule on Thursday evening. No other Sri Lankan newsroom had filed on it at the time of writing; the announcement was made late in the Colombo evening.
Update, October 2: Hiru News has filed its own account, confirming Sri Lanka’s placement in Group B alongside New Zealand, South Africa, England, Bangladesh and Qualifier B, and the 21 November final in Johannesburg.
It adds detail the first reports did not carry. The semi-finals are allocated to Cape Town (17 November) and Tshwane (18 November). The tournament opens with a Super Series hosted in Namibia between the three lowest-ranked of the 14 qualified teams, played as a round robin, with only the top finisher progressing to the group stage — which is how the field narrows to the 12 teams in Groups A and B.
The twelve venues are Johannesburg, Tshwane, Cape Town, Durban, Gqeberha, Bloemfontein, Paarl and KuGompo City in South Africa; Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe; and Windhoek in Namibia. Zimbabwe’s Mosi-oa-Tunya Stadium at Victoria Falls hosts India in Match 33.
ICC Chairman Jay Shah called the schedule release and the opening of the ticket ballot “major milestones on the road to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027,” and said the ICC was committed to “affordable ticket prices and options that bring families, young people and local communities closer to the action.”