Neutral Venues Ruled Out for 2011 World Cup

All quiet at the Sheikh Zayed stadium, and it will remain that way in the World Cup, too

London: The ICC has ruled out the possibility of Pakistan's 2011 World Cup matches being held at a neutral venue, including UAE. The governing body agreed that those 14 matches will be held in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the other co-hosts, as previously decided.

Matches in the 2011 World Cup due to be staged in Pakistan will not take place in the United Arab Emirates, International Cricket Council president David Morgan said on Thursday.

Instead the 14 fixtures will, despite the wishes of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), take place in the three Indian sub-continent co-host nations of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Morgan said the Dubai-based ICC had looked at staging matches in a "fifth country", amidst speculation that matches could be shifted to the UAE.

But he told reporters at Lord's on Thursday: "The (ICC) board has considered that but it has decided the 14 matches originally allocated to Pakistan should take place in the three other Indian sub-continent countries of the Full Members, that is India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh."

How many games will be played in each of those countries has yet to be decided. The ICC has referred the matter back to the tournament's central organising committee and Morgan said he expected a decision within a fortnight.

"We need a recommendation from those four host nations, including Pakistan. They will come forward with the location of those matches to the commercial board of the ICC."

Asked how long it would take for the ICC to receive that decision, Morgan said: "I would expect two weeks."

The ICC ruled out matches in violence-hit Pakistan following the militant attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore on March 3 while it was on its way to the Gadaffi stadium to resume a Test match.

But Pakistan, who last weekend beat Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 final at Lord's, remains a co-host of the World Cup.

Morgan, flanked by ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, stressed the PCB, who have taken legal action against the ICC, would still receive a hosting fee of 750,000 dollars per match - 10.5 million dollars in total.

Morgan, formerly chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said the failure to announce where the games would be played was not down to the PCB's legal action.

"When two parties are at odds, it is often difficult to reach a settlement," he said.

"We are not given up hope of reaching a settlement but I couldn't go into any more detail than that. The legal action doesn't help but I don't think it make it any more difficult."

Following last year's Mumbai terror attacks, security concerns have also been expressed regarding the safety of India as a venue for international cricket while a long-running civil war in Sri Lanka has only recently ended.

But Morgan said Pakistan's case was not comparable to that of its Asian neighbours.

"The situation in Pakistan is different. The tragic happenings in Lahore when a cricket team was targeted and the player control team was targeted, that changed the landscape of safety and security in cricket, in sport generally and in terms of sporting events of an international nature in Pakistan."