BBC Radio Test Match Special

TMS are up and running on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra - click on the audio link above to listen. You can hear every ball of every game live here on the BBC.

So who do you fancy for this tournament? Can Australia or New Zealand claim glory on home soil? Is this the year that South Africa finally lose their chokers tag? And how far will England go?

Let us know on Twitter at #bbccricket, via text on 81111 if you're in the UK, email tms@bbc.co.uk or contact us via the BBC Sport Facebook page., external

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (capt), Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi (wk), Daniel Vettori, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult.

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews (capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Jeevan Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Rangana Herath, Lasith Malinga.

Umpires are Marais Erasmus (South Africa) and Nigel Llong (England).

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra's coverage of this match will begin imminently - as soon as tonight's rugby league commentary finishes.

Sri Lanka were losing finalists at the last World Cup, and won the most recent edition of the World T20. Despite that, they enter this competition somewhat under the radar after an indifferent run of form.

However, any team with the veteran duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in their ranks is surely a force to be reckoned with.

Tournament co-hosts New Zealand are perennial World Cup dark-horses - a team with an outstanding record of defying low expectations and apparently limited squads to reach the sharp end of the tournament.

This time around though, things are different. A superb 2014 under talismanic captain Brendon McCullum means that New Zealand enter this competition with genuine expectation on their shoulders.

Much will depend on number three batsman Kane Williamson, as well as a very handy young seam attack.

New Zealand leave out Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Kyle Mills and the captain's brother Nathan McCullum from their 15-man squad.

Sri Lanka omit Dinesh Chandimal, Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake and young seamer Dushmantha Chameera, who recently replaced the injured Dhammika Prasad.

New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum: "We'd have bowled just because of the overhead conditions. But the wicket looks good, and the guys are excited about getting into this World Cup. We've had outstanding preparation, the tournament starts today and if we get it right we'll be hard to beat."

Sri Lanka have won the toss. Skipper Angelo Mathews says his side will have a bowl in rather overcast conditions. Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan had his ankle strapped after a slight mishap in training, but he's fit to play.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum says he would have opted to bowl too.

You sense that could be an important toss to win for Sri Lanka - they wouldn't have fancied facing Tim Southee and Trent Boult first up under grey skies.

Want to know how England, Scotland or Ireland are getting on at the Cricket World Cup? Keen to find out how the wickets are falling?

With the BBC Sport app you can set push alerts from all the sides taking part in this year's competition.

The app is already freely available from Google Play, external for Android devices, the App Store, external for iPhones, and the UK Amazon Kindle Fire Appstore, external.

And a scaled-back version is now available for Windows Phone users., external

Image source, Getty Images

If you haven't spent the last week excitedly poring over group tables, squad lists and permutations, here's how it all works.

Two groups of seven sides - all the teams in each group will play each other once, and at the end of those matches (about a month from now), the top four sides from each group will go into the quarter-finals.

Tonight's action comes from Group A, which contains England, along with tournament co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, plus Sri Lanka, Scotland, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Defending champions India are in Group B, along with South Africa, West Indies and Pakistan, as well as the unfancied trio of Zimbabwe, Ireland and United Arab Emirates.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the opening games of the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Cricket's global jamboree is once again upon us: the world's best batsmen and bowlers are ready to duke it out, new heroes are ready to grab the limelight, and England are bidding, as so often, to surpass the lowest of expectations.

Later on we'll see Eoin Morgan's men in action for the first time as they bid to avoid defeat at the hands of hot favourites Australia.

But first up, it's co-hosts New Zealand who get this party started, as they take on Sri Lanka at the Hagley Oval. The toss is around ten minutes away.

Image source, Getty Images

Imran Khan's cornered tigers. Dwayne Leverock's earth-shaking catch. Sachin Tendulkar carried on his team-mates's shoulders. Allan Donald's run-out.

Iconic moments of triumph and disaster, of cricketing heroes made and legends minted, writ large upon a global stage.

And England. Oh England. Flattering to deceive, gallantly falling short against heavyweight opposition, briefly daring us to dream with a fleeting glimpse of their potential, before suffering the inevitable knockout-stage humiliation.

It could only be the World Cup.