Bengaluru, May 13: The 12th ICC Cricket World Cup will kick off on May 30 with a game between hosts England and South Africa at the Oval.

The first all-Asia match of the tournament will be played on June 4 at Sophia Garden in Cardiff when former champions Sri Lanka to will take on Afghanistan.

As per the latest ICC rankings, the Lankans are placed ninth while Afghanistan are a place below.

India's matches" title="World Cup schedule | India's matches" />World Cup schedule | India's matches

The two teams have met only thrice in history with Sri Lanka winning two games and Afghanistan once. It was Afghanistan who thumped Sri Lanka in their last encounter played in Asia Cup last September.

The two sides have met in the World Cup once and it happened in Dunedin, New Zealand, on February 22, 2015.

In that group game, Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews had won the toss and sent Afghanistan to bat first.

Former captain Asghar Afghan's 54 and Samiullah Shinwari's 38 saw Afghanistan scoring a total of 232 befoe losing all their wickets in the 50th over. Lasith Malinga and Mathews took three wickets each while Suranga Lakmal took two.

Horrible start while chasing

Sri Lanka had a horrendous beginning to their chase, losing 2 for two and then the in-form Kumar Sangakkara (7) departed cheaply top leave the side reeling at 18 for three.

Dimuth Karunaratne, who will be leading the Lankans this year, fell for 23 after a short resistance and Sri Lanka were 51 for four. It was then when Mahela Jayawardene came to his team's rescue scoring a magnificent 100 off 120 balls and was given a worthy company by Mathews (44).

The duo added 126 runs, but quick dismissals of both had again put the side under trouble but for Thisara Perera's 26-ball 47 not out at No.8 that saw them home. He added unbeaten 58 runs with Jeevan Mendis for the seventh wicket to give Sri Lanka a victory by 4 wickets.

Jawayardene, who hit his final ODI hundred, was the man of the match.