World Cup 2011 organizers on Tuesday handed out Pakistan's share of the tournament schedule with the 14 matches originally set for it split between India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The saga over Pakistan's status as co-host of the 2011 event has seen threats of legal action and even moves to have games played in the UAE and was prompted by the deteriorating security situation in the Asian nation. Now 29 of the 49 games will be played in India, including eight which were set for Pakistan, 12 will be in Sri Lanka (including four from Pakistan) and eight in Bangladesh (two moved from Pakistan). A total of 13 venues will be used with eight in India, three in Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh. Bangladesh will now stage two of the four quarterfinals, with India and Sri Lanka hosting one each. Under the previous arrangement each of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were to have staged one each. The two semifinals will be staged in India and Sri Lanka, with the final in India. The meeting of the central organizing committee was chaired by ICC vice president Sharad Pawar and attended by ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat and representatives of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Pakistan was invited to the meeting but no Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) representative attended. It was also agreed that the tournament secretariat will be based in Mumbai rather than Pakistan. The recommendations of the committee will now go to the ICC board. WI players stand firm Striking West Indies players on Tuesday seemed bent on testing the West Indies Cricket Board's ultimatum to apologize by Wednesday or face the consequences. At the same time a depleted West Indies side was crumbling to a 95-run defeat to Bangladesh on Monday here, Executive President of the West Indies Players' Association Dinanath Ramnarine was drawing up battle lines. “We are meeting with our lawyers... We are exploring all our options,” Ramnarine told the Express newspaper in his native Trinidad & Tobago. The former West Indies leg-spinner disclosed that the striking players are unfazed by the WICB's demand for an apology or face non-consideration for selection to the squad that will take part in the ICC Champions Trophy this September in South Africa. “They are very strong,” said Ramnarine. “They want to play cricket for the West Indies. But playing under the same conditions, they don't feel that it is right, and no human being should be asked to play under the conditions under which the WICB is asking them to play.” The striking West Indies players are protesting playing four previous series without a contract, outstanding pay, and other issues. But the WICB said it was ready, willing, and able to pay the players - and would do so despite the protest as an act of “good faith”.
