There will be an unusual concentration of World Cup matches in Gauteng [Greater Johannesburg], the economic heartland of South Africa and part of the highest-altitude area, where most teams are also expected to establish their training camps in order to acclimatise.
This is also the area with the worst record of violent crime in South Africa, one of the biggest concerns of tournament organisers.
Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Polokwane and Rustenburg are all at high altitude. The first three could be bitterly cold at night during the tournament although Rustenburg has mild, sunny, southern hemisphere winters. Nelspruit is in the hot, dry lowveldt and should be comfortable.
Most of the World Cup managers are thought to be planning training camps around Pretoria, Rustenburg, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg to prepare their players for the thinner air.
Next year, it will stage soccer’s World Cup. This year, it is host to a tour by the British and Irish Lions rugby team, the game’s biggest event other than a World Cup. This weekend, the Cricket World Cup qualifiers come to their conclusion, while South Africa has recently seen a head-to-head contest for the de facto world championship of the sport as its team failed to displace Australia from the top of the International Cricket Council’s rankings.
All of these are scheduled events, planned well in advance. But the bonus comes over the next few weeks as South Africa stages the 2009 edition of cricket’s Indian Premier League, which starts on Saturday in Cape Town.
The eight team, 59-match tournament has been transferred from India following the inability of the cricket authorities there to agree on a schedule with the national government, fearful of the security implications of staging a major sporting event at the same time as a general election.
"This is a great compliment to both CSA and our nation to be shown this confidence in our ability to hold one of the world's top sporting events at short notice," said Cricket South Africa's CEO, Gerald Majola.
The tournament will feature 59 matches from 18 April 2009, and fixtures will be announced in due course.
The Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India announced Sunday that it was shifting the Indian Premier League (IPL) out of the country because the tournament would coincide with general elections.