2011 World Cup Finals in Mumbai
Thirteen venues in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been allotted 49 matches of the ICC World Cup 2011. Eight venues will be in India, three in Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh.
Haroon Lorgat, Chief Executive officer (CEO), ICC said after a meeting of the ICC World Cup 2011 Central organising Committee (COC) here at the Cricket Centre on Tuesday that the venues are being finalised. “The opening ceremony and the opening match will be held at Bangladesh on February 18 and February 19, 2011 and the final in Mumbai in March,” said Mr. Lorgat.
The COC decided to allot two quarterfinals to Bangladesh and one each to India and Sri Lanka, one semifinal to Sri Lanka and India. “The final will be held in the last week of March,” said Prof. Ratnakar Shetty, who has been appointed Event Managing Director of the ICC World Cup 2011.
Mr. Lorgat said the special advisor to the ICC, Mr. Inderjit Singh Bindra will play a key role in the management of the ICC’s top signature event and also that the BCCI office in Mumbai will be the central Secretariat of the World Cup.
At a meeting of the Central Organising Committee of the World Cup 2011 a few months ago, BCCI had nominated Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mohali, Ahmedabad and Nagpur as the venues. Sri Lanka Cricket had nominated Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) and Premadasa Stadium at Colombo and Bangladesh had named the Banghabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka as the venues in their respective countries.
With Pakistan not anymore associated with the 49-match competition in 2011 as a host country, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have identified one additional venue each, while the BCCI has retained the same eight venues to host 29 matches including the final at the completely redeveloped Wankhede Stadium at an estimated cost of Rs. 150 crore.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was to host the 14 matches including semifinal at Lahore, with Karachi, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi being the other venues. But the decision of the ICC Development International (IDI) to remove Pakistan as a co-host country has given an opportunity for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh Cricket Boards to add one more venue each.
Shashank Manohar (President, BCCI) will head the security committee. “We recognise that instilling confidence in the security arrangements has to be in place and important. We have no doubt that we would be able to put in place security systems for a safe and successful conduct of the World Cup. The security planning will be an ongoing exercise from now,” said Mr. Lorgat.
He also said he has no information officially from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that its players would not take part in the World Cup. “It’s all being speculated, I don’t they will actually do that. We will cross the bridge when such a matter arises. There’s also no proposal from the PCB that it can host the matches in Dubai. It’s all very speculative. The IDO Board has made a decision and we are moving forward.”
The three host countries will have to appoint an Event Operations Director heading the local organising committee (LOC) and they would report to the Event Managing Director.
Operational Planning: Mahbubul Anam (Bangladesh, Convenor), N. Srinivasan (India), Duleep Mendis (Sri Lanka), Prof. Ratnakar Shetty (Event Managing Director) and Haroon Lorgat (CEO, ICC).
Venue Inspection Committee: N. Srinivasan (Convenor) and one member each from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Tags: Bangladesh, BCCI, Chennai, Colombo, Cricket World Cup, Dhaka, Dubai, ICC World Cup, ICC World Cup 2011, India, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, pakistan, PCB, Sri Lanka, world cup, World Cup 2011
