Sky Sports 2 to become Sky Sports World Cup, a dedicated cricket channel for 2015 Cricket World Cup tournament

Sky Sports will dedicate an entire channel to the ICC Cricket World Cup, from the first to the last day of the biggest one-day event in the international cricket calendar.

For six weeks, Sky Sports 2 will become ‘Sky Sports World Cup’, giving viewers over 1,000 hours of round-the-clock cricket coverage, including all 49 matches live, as well as build-up, analysis and highlights. Two dedicated reporters will be in Australia and New Zealand, and the Verdict show will be back live for every England match to debate the performance.

Two hours of live build-up will set the scene for the opening fixture on Friday 13 February as the current ICC Twenty20 World Cup holders, Sri Lanka, take on New Zealand, before England return to the MCG against Australia. The channel will launch at 6am with a series of classic World Cup matches from years gone by, before Adam Gilchrist shares his trade secrets to success in a masterclass special as part of a comprehensive schedule of support programming

Live commentary in Australia and New Zealand will be provided by Sir Ian Botham, Mike Atherton, David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd, Nasser Hussain and Nick Knight. The Sky Sports cricket studio back in the UK will be hosted by David Gower, Ian Ward, Charles Colvile and Matt Floyd, who will be joined by plenty of guests throughout the tournament, including Bob Willis, Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior.