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

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In the absence of the domestic Twenty20 tournament, which was postponed for the second year in a row, performance in the IPL will be crucial for the 30 players selected in India’s preliminary World Twenty20 squad for the tournament in England.

The notable omissions were Sreesanth, Joginder Sharma, Ajit Agarkar and Piyush Chawla, who were part of the team that won the World Twenty20 in 2007.

The final squad of 15 to 16 players will be announced a month before the tournament begins on June 5.

The IPL assumes significance because it ends on May 24, leaving little time for a camp before the players leave for England.

Sreesanth ruled himself out of the IPL due to a back injury and had recently admitted he would be out of action for at least three months.

The selectors had always been skeptical once he struggled on his return to domestic cricket after sustaining an injury during last season’s IPL.

There were no specific parameters that the selectors looked at when they prepared the 30-man short list.

The list contains no surprises with most players picking themselves due to their form in the current season.

Tamil Nadu offspinner R Ashwin was picked as a back-up to Harbhajan Singh after a successful domestic season where he was the leading wicket-taker in Challenger Trophy (eight wickets) and took two more in three Deodhar Trophy games.

Squad: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan singh, Praveen Kumar, Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, S Badrinath, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhishek Nayar, Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, RP Singh, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Naman Ojha.

Tags: Dhoni, England, India, Sreesanth, T20, Twenty20, world cup, Yuvraj

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The 62-year-old Jamaican, who stood in a record 128 Tests, ended his 20-year career with the final Test between South Africa and Australia at Newlands in Cape Town.

“His endurance is testament to discipline and consistency – two characteristics to which all in cricket should aspire,” said Haroon Lorgat, the ICC’s chief executive.

“On behalf of the ICC, thank you for your great service to the game and we wish you well in the future.”

One of the game’s most respected umpires, Bucknor has also stood in 179 one-day internationals and will add to that tally when he officiates the two matches between West Indies and England at Kensington Oval in Barbados this weekend.

The experienced Bucknor has also stood in a record five consecutive World Cup finals since 1992, a standard that Lorgat contended would never be overhauled.

“His record of five consecutive ICC Cricket World Cup finals will not, be overtaken and he will retire as the umpire to have officiated in the most Test matches and the first to break the 100-Test mark.”

Tags: Cricket World Cup, ICC, Steve Bucknor, Umpire, world cup

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