Australia, New Zealand reserve venues for WC-2011

Uncertainty over the ICC World Cup 2011 in Asia remains alive despite stripping off Pakistan from the hosting list. According to ICC spokesman Australia and New Zealand are the reserve venues for the World Cup.

"Australia and New Zealand are the reserve venues for the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 and are the confirmed hosts of the tournament in 2015. The ICC always has a reserve venue for all its events", Brian Murgatroyd - the ICC spokesman said from Dubai.

The ICC has stripped off Pakistan as one of the co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup and declared India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as the hosts. And the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is alleged to have registered their protest and expressed reservations over playing in India.

"The schedule for the tournament is drawn up by a combination of the ICC and the hosts with input from key stakeholders, including ICC’s broadcast partner ESPN STAR Sports", Brian Murgatroyd added.

"The issue of where a side plays is not always down to that side. If, for example, a government instructs its side not to play in a particular location then that side has no choice but to comply with that instruction. That is known as an acceptable reason for non-compliance. Safety and security or governmental instructions are considered acceptable reasons for non-compliance", he further added.

PCB official this week has lodged an official protest with the ICC board over the shifting out the World Cup 2011 from the country. As, Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed raised a key perspective about the security situation in rest of the Asian countries.

"India shifted their cricket league to South Africa over security fears." As, Indian Premier League's move out from the India after the government refuse to provide security concerns due to the lucrative event clashing with the general elections.

"We could not tour Bangladesh because there were security fears in March," Saeed maintained, referring to a postponement over February's mutiny at a military camp there that left 56 officers dead.
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