Cricket fans rejoice: the Cricket World Cup is here again! Can the all-round prowess of the South Africans put aside the “chokers” tag? Or will the Lankan lions roar again after almost two decades? While Indian fans will keenly follow the teams’ attempts to bring the cup back home, here in New Zealand we’ll be keen to exploit the home oval advantage.

Here are a bunch of fun ways to make sure you’re up to date with the latest cricket info.

Scores faster than Lee or Akhtar

Over the next two months, a simple Google search for [cricket] will be your quickest source for the latest scores and team schedules. You can stay tuned to the action anytime, anywhere - use Voice Search on your phone to ask “what’s happening in the cricket” to get today’s match results and find out what’s coming up.

You can also stay updated on your favourite teams thanks to Now cards in the Google App so you don’t even have to search. Download the ESPN Cricinfo app onto your phone, and you’ll start seeing Cricinfo’s Now cards pop up in the Google app.

Take the tournament’s pulse with Google Trends
Millions of fans will be searching on Google for noteworthy moments of the tournament, from the Duckworth-Lewis method to Virat Kohli’s hairstyle. Get into the conversation with other cricket fans with Google Trends throughout the tournament—follow us on Google Australia NZ Twitter and Google+ Page, or on Google India’s Google+ and Twitter accounts. You can also keep up to date with all the latest Trends here.


Real fans paint their face
Even if you can’t watch the matches live, you can still show your support by painting your face like a true cricket fan — without ever getting your hands dirty. Take a photo of yourself and up to four friends who’d like their faces painted and upload it to Google+ with hashtag #PaintIndia, #PaintSriLanka, or #PaintAustralia...you get the idea (see details at g.co/CricketFacePaint). Refresh the page to see the effect!

You can add the hashtag #CWC15Fans and publicly share your photo on Google+ for a chance to be shown on ICC’s official website.


And last but not the least, keep an eye out for special Doodles during the tournament on the Google India homepage, as well as Hangouts on Air with cricketers and commentators.

Have a blast following great cricket, and may the best team win!

Posted by Shane Treeves, Consumer Communications, Google Australia and New Zealand