Staging of matches
Pakistan stripped of co-host status
Pakistan was stripped of its rights as co-host of the 2011 World Cup by the ICC on 17 April 2009 [13][14] due to ongoing concerns about the "uncertain security situation" prevailing in the country, especially in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Lahore during Sri Lanka's tour in 2009.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has hinted that it may refuse to participate in the World Cup if they are asked to play in India.[15] However, there is no concrete evidence whether this will actually happen.
It is estimated that the PCB will lose $10.5 million due to the tournament being taken away from them.[16] This figure only includes the match-fee of $750,000 per match guaranteed by the ICC. The overall loss to the PCB and the Pakistani economy is expected to be much greater.
On 9 April 2009, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt revealed that they had issued a legal notice to oppose ICC's decision.[17] However, the ICC claims that the PCB is still a co-host and they have only shifted the matches out of Pakistan.[18] Pakistan have proposed that South Asia host the 2015 World Cup and Australia/New Zealand host 2011, however this option has not found favour with their co-hosts and hence seems unlikely.
Allocation of matches
On 11 April 2005, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan announced an agreement about the allocation of games.[20] The original plan involved India hosting the final, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka would host the semi-finals.[21] and the opening ceremony will take place in Bangladesh.[22]
After being stripped of its co-host status, Pakistan made the bid to host its home games in the cities of UAE as a neutral home venue. This is in response to the fact that the last few months of cricket that Pakistan has played, has been in the cities of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. The pitches in these stadia have also been developed to suit the Pakistani players. This would not harm any timing schedules as there are regular flights from the city of Mumbai to Dubai.
However, on 28 April 2009, the ICC announced the re-allocation of matches originally intended to be played in Pakistan. As a result, India will now host 29 matches across eight venues including the final and one semi-final; Sri Lanka will host 12 in three venues, including one semi-final; while Bangladesh will stage 8 at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on 18 February 2011.[23]
On 1 June 2010, the first phase of tickets for the 2011 World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been put on sale following a meeting of the tournament's Central Organising Committee in Mumbai. The tickets have been priced affordably, with the cheapest costing 20 cents US in Sri Lanka, the committee said.
Format
Late in 2007, the four host nations agreed upon a revised format for the 2011 World Cup identical to the 1996 World Cup, the only change being the no. of teams as it was 12 in 1996 and 14 in 2011. The first round of the tournament will be a round-robin in which the 14 teams are divided into 2 groups of 7 teams each. The 7 teams play each other once with the top 4 from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals.[25] The format ensures that each team gets to play a minimum of 6 matches even if they are ruled out of the tournament due to early defeats. One semi-final of the tournament was officially handed over to India, after Pakistan were stripped of its rights to host the tournament.
- The semi-final venues are the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka and PCA Stadium in Mohali, India
- The final is scheduled to be played at the renovated Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India.
Qualification
Main articles: ICC World Cricket League 2007-09 and 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier
As per ICC regulations, all 10 full members automatically qualify for the World Cup, including Zimbabwe who have given up their test playing status until the standard of their team improves.[26]
The ICC also organised a qualifying tournament in South Africa to determine which Associate teams would participate in 2011 event. Ireland who had been the best performing Associate nation since the last World Cup, won the tournament, beating Canada in the final. The Netherlands and Kenya also qualified by virtue of finishing third and fourth respectively.
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