2011 Cricket World Cup

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2011 ICC Cricket World Cup
Official Logo of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Administrator(s)	International Cricket Council
Cricket format	One-Day International
Tournament format(s)	Round robin and Knockout
Host(s)	India Bangladesh Sri Lanka
Champions	TBD
Participants	14 (from 104 entrants)
Matches played	49 (to be played)

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the tenth Cricket World Cup and will be hosted by three South Asian Test cricket playing countries: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It will be Bangladesh’s first time co-hosting a Cricket World Cup. The World Cup will use cricket’s One Day International format, with fourteen national cricket teams scheduled^[1] to compete. The World Cup will take place during February and March 2011, with the first match being played on 19 February 2011.^[2]

The World Cup was also to be co-hosted by Pakistan, but in the wake of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab, the International Cricket Council (ICC) were forced to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights.^[3] The headquarters of the organising committee were originally situated in Lahore, but have now been shifted to Mumbai.^[4] Pakistan was supposed to hold 14 matches, including one semi-final.^[5] Eight of Pakistan’s matches have been awarded to India, four to Sri Lanka and two to Bangladesh.^[6]

Host selection

[edit] Bids

The ICC originally announced its decision on which countries would host the 2011 World Cup on 30 April 2006. Australia and New Zealand also bid for the tournament, and a successful Australasian bid for the 2011 World Cup would have seen a 50-50 split in games, with the final still up for negotiation. The Trans–Tasman bid, Beyond Boundaries, was the only bid for 2011 delivered to ICC headquarters in Dubai ahead of the 1 March deadline. Considerable merits of the Australasian bid were the superior venues and infrastructure and the total support of both the New Zealand and Australian governments on tax and customs issues during the tournament, according to Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland^[7]. The New Zealand government had also given assurance that Zimbabwe would be allowed to compete in the tournament, following political discussions in the country whether their cricket team should be allowed to tour Zimbabwe in 2005. The Australian bid also won the support of former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul^[8]

ICC President Ehsan Mani said the extra time taken by the Asian bloc to hand over its bid compliance book had harmed the four-nation bid. However, when the time came to vote, Asia won the hosting rights by ten votes to three^[7]. The Pakistan Cricket Board has revealed that it was the vote of the West Indies Cricket Board that swung the matter, as the Asian bid had the support of the four bidding countries along with South Africa and Zimbabwe^[9]. It was reported in Pakistani newspaper Dawn that the Asian countries promised to hold fund-raising events for West Indian cricket during the 2007 World Cup, which may have influenced the vote^[10]. However, chairman of the Monitoring Committee of the Asian bid, I. S. Bindra, said it was their promise of extra profits in the region of US$ 400 million that swung the vote^[11], that there "was no quid pro quo for their support"^[12], and that playing the West Indies had "nothing to do with the World Cup bid"^[12].

ICC prefers to rotate World Cup venues between major cricket playing nations. The world cups have been hosted by England (Three times 1975,79,83) India/Pakistan 1987, Australia/New Zealand 1992, India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka 1996, England (UK,Netherlands) 1999, South Africa (Zimbabwe,Kenya) 2003, West Indies 2007. For the 2011 World Cup Australia/New Zealand were a strong contender ahead of India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh because they had not hosted a World cup since 1992. In the final voting India et al. won because they argued that since they were a bigger group of countries they should be assigned a World cup more frequently. Due to this, Australia/New Zealand were awarded the 2015 World Cup.

[edit] Staging of matches

[edit] Pakistan stripped of co-host status

Pakistan were stripped of its rights as co-host of the 2011 World Cup by the ICC on 17 April 2009 ^[13] 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 ^[14]. 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.^[15] 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.^[16] However, the ICC claims that the PCB is still a co-host and they have only shifted the matches out of Pakistan.^[17] 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.^[18]

[edit] Allocation of matches

On 11 April 2005, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan announced an agreement about the allocation of games ^[19]. The original plan involved India hosting the final, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka would host the semi-finals.^[20] and the opening ceremony will take place in Bangladesh.^[21]

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 eight at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on 18 February 2011.^[22]

[edit] Format

Late in 2007, the four host nations agreed upon a revised format for the 2011 World Cup, in which 14 teams will participate instead of 16. The first round of the tournament will be a round-robin similar to the one held in South Africa in the 2003 edition in which the 14 teams are divided into 2 groups of 7 teams each. The 7 teams play each other once with the top four from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals. The format ensures that each team gets to play a minimum of six 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 planned 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.

[edit] Qualification

See also: ICC World Cricket League 2007-09, 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier, and 2011 Cricket World Cup squads

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.^[23]

Team	Mode of Qualification
Australia	ICC Full Member
Bangladesh	ICC Full Member
England	ICC Full Member
India	ICC Full Member
New Zealand	ICC Full Member
Pakistan	ICC Full Member
South Africa	ICC Full Member
Sri Lanka	ICC Full Member
West Indies	ICC Full Member
Zimbabwe	ICC Full Member

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.

Team	Mode of Qualification
Ireland	1st place in 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier
Canada	2nd place in 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier
Netherlands	3rd place in 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier
Kenya	4th place in 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier

[edit] Prize Money

The 2011 Cricket World Cup winning team would be taking home a prize money of US$ 4 million, with the International Cricket Council deciding to double the total allocation for the coveted tournament to US$ 10 millon. The decision was taken at the ICC Board meeting which was held in Dubai on April 20, 2010.^[24]

[edit] Mascot

Mascot of 2011 Cricket World Cup

The mascot of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 was unveiled at a function in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Friday, 2 April 2010. Cricket-followers based in the host nations – India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – will be able to participate in a contest to name the mascot.^[25]

Tournament director Ratnakar Shetty during a press release said,"The idea of our mascot is to crystallise the feelings and action of the sport and the fans in a graphic form that reflects the visceral tone and emotion that Cricket creates in its followers, especially in an event like the CWC."

"It also emphasises the enthusiasm of youth both in general and for Cricket itself, especially on the sub-continent with its massive and dedicated following. He’s stylised to give an instantly recognisable graphic strength so that with exposure his bold lines and strong colouring will instantly create a friendly face for the CWC," tournament director Ratnakar Shetty said in a media release.