ICC CRICKET CUP 2011

The 2011 Cricket World Cup will be jointly hosted by the four test cricket playing nations from Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The final will be held in India at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have been awarded one semi-final each. This is the first time that the World Cup has been held across so many test nations – the maximum previously had been three when India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka hosted the 1996 competition.

The have been some laboured negotiations as to how the tournament will be structured. The eventual schedule agreed by the ICC sees the opening ceremony held in Bangladesh and then games divided amongst the host nations as follows: India 22 games; Pakistan 14 games; Sri Lanka 9 games; Bangladesh 6 games.

VENUES

• The ICC and host nations have agreed to a shortened tournament in 2011.. The 2007 World Cup attracted criticism due to its drawn out nature and 2011 will see a reduction in the number of teams to 14 and quarter-finals will follow the group stages rather than the Super Sixes that were included in 2007.
• Qualification for the minor cricketing nations is a long and arduous process. The ICC World Cricket League has been established for teams without test status and the top sides from this global competition will meet in the United Arab Emirates in 2009 to compete in the ICC Trophy, the final qualification tournament for the 2011 finals.

TEAMS QUALIFIED FOR THE ICC TROPHY:

• Bermuda, Ireland, Netherlands, Canada, Kenya, Scotland, UAE, Namibia, Denmark, and Oman have qualified to date and will be joined by the top two teams from Division Three of the World Cricket League.
• Looking further ahead, it has also been decided that Australia and New Zealand will host the 2015 World Cup and England will stage the tournament in 2019