ICC Board to consider venue for 2011 and 2015 Cricket World Cups

Dubai, Apr 29 (UNI) The crucial ICC Board meeting to discuss the venue for the 2011 and 2015 World Cups will be held here tomorrow, but it is highly unlikely that a decision will be taken on the same day.

The Board will be asked to consider a new compliant submission from the four Asian Full Members -- India, Pakistan, Srilanka and Bangladesh -- and a joint application from Australia and New Zealand.

Dropping enough hints that the ICC may have to reconvene another meeting at a later date to sort out the issue, ICC Chief Excecutive Malcom Speed said, ''It may be that neither submission has sufficient support at the end of the meeting in which case the Board will have to reconvene at a later date. This has happened in the past, most notably during discussions regarding the hosting of the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup, and is something we will deal with if required.'' Speed admitted that it would be a very difficult decision for the Board to make.

''We put in place some very strict compliance guidelines so a lot of work has gone into both of these submissions,'' he said, adding ''Both have government support and have indicated their ability to comply with strict ICC criteria regarding the number of venues, the quality of facilities and the exemption from tax.

''This leaves us in a very positive position where we have two strong options for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and there will doubtless be extensive discussion as to which submission will be successful.'' A decision of the ICC Board requires the support of the majority of Full and Associate Member representatives including at least seven of the 10 Full Members.

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