How does the Cricket World Cup 2023 work? Points table, schedule and prize money explained

The Cricket World Cup in India has not got off to a flying start for defending champions England after suffering defeat at the hands of New Zealand in Ahmedabad. The opening match of this year's event happened to be a replay of that rip-roaring final four years ago, which went down in the history books, but there were no late heroics from England this time around.

The Black Caps eased to the 283 set by England with a comfortable 13.4 overs to spare thanks to hundreds from Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra. England are next in action against Bangladesh in Dharamshala on Tuesday as the Cricket World Cup whirrs into action over the next few weeks. NationalWorld has all you need to know about the tournament format, the nations taking part in the competition and how much cash is up for grabs.

Where and when does the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 take place?

The 13th ICC Cricket World Cup is taking place in India and the tournament began on Thursday, October 5. There will be a total of 48 matches played in the 46-day event, which will culminate with the final on Sunday, November 19. 10 cities across India are hosting the tournament with every stadium playing host to five matches - except the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, which will host three games. The other cities involved are Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Dharamsala, New Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Pune, and Bengaluru.

Which teams are involved in the Cricket World Cup?

England famously won the Cricket World Cup in nail-biting fashion in 2019 and are, of course, competing in the tournament once again. Other big cricketing nations Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and hosts India are also competing.

The rest of the tournament is made up of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and South Africa.

Previously, qualification was decided by ODI rankings but this year's event involved qualifying matches played between 2020 and 2023. The most notable absentees are the West Indies who miss out after losing to Scotland in an important qualifier.

How does the Cricket World Cup 2023 work? Route to the final and prize money

The ten Cricket World Cup finalists compete for the trophy. The event follows a round-robin stage before leading into the all-important knockouts. All 10 teams play each other once in the round-robin. A win earns the nation two points while a match that ends with no result sees one point awarded to each team.

The top four teams at the end of the round-robin go into the semi-finals. Group A consists of England, Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Netherlands, and Sri Lanka. Group B consists of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa, Ireland, and Zimbabwe.

The tournament offers $10m worth of prize money, the same as in 2019. The winning nation takes home $4m of that with the runners-up receiving $2m. The two defeated semifinalists get $800,000 each with the other six sides taking home $100,000 for their involvement. In addition, $40,000 is paid out to the winners of every winner of a round-robin match.