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MUMBAI:
While Bangladesh has been identified as venue for the opening
ceremony of the 2011 cricket World Cup on 19 February 2011,
the final will be played in Delhi at a new stadium to be built
by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
This
decision was taken at a meeting of representatives of the
International Cricket Council (ICC) including CEO Haroon Lorgat
in New Delhi today to discuss ongoing plans for the ICC Cricket
World Cup 2011, which will take place in Bangladesh, India,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka. A range of important issues were discussed
at the meeting, described as an organizational meet between
the various parties involved in staging the event.
Subject
to final ICC Board approval, the tournament would be shorter
than the one that took place in the West Indies in 2007.
After
the meeting, Lorgat said he was "pleased to see that
planning arrangements are gathering speed. It is no secret
that from an organisational point of view we are a little
behind the clock at the moment but I'm pleased to say the
pace has now quickened and the various parties are stepping
up to deliver what I fully believe will be a great celebration
of world cricket."
With
Salman Butt having previously been named as the event's tournament
director and with several working groups now in place, the
details of organising the event are being worked through.
Lorgat
added: "One of the issues at today's meeting was that
of safety and security. Clearly, that is a major factor to
consider and we are already making provisions to ensure that
players, officials, media, spectators and all other stakeholders
will be safe during the event. In fact, people's safety is
our number-one priority.
"I
think it would be premature to start talking of alternative
venues for the event. In due course we will appoint an independent
security assessor as is normal procedure and we will make
a decision but at this stage we are planning for the ICC Cricket
World Cup to take place in the four designated countries as
originally planned."
The
four hosts will now step up preparations in their respective
countries and will reconvene in due course to appraise each
other and the ICC of the progress being made towards the staging
of the event. The ICC Board will also be kept informed of
progress during its regular meetings.
As
part of the preparations for the tournament, the ICC Cricket
World Cup Qualifier will take place in South Africa from 1
to19 April. The 12-team event features the best teams from
the Associate and Affiliate world with the top four sides
winning places at the big event in 2011. The 10 Full Members
of the ICC have already qualified automatically.
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