PCB keen on UAE venues despite ICC snub

Osman Samiuddin

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The Sheikh Zayed Stadium continues to be one of Pakistan's focus points © AFP Enlarge

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Pakistan will continue to suggest Dubai and Abu Dhabi as surrogate home venues for the 2011 World Cup and also pursue its legal case against the ICC who, they say, unlawfully stripped Pakistan of its right to host matches in cricket's premier tournament.

ICC officials on Thursday reaffirmed that in light of the Lahore terror attacks, Pakistan will not be hosting any games - though they do stand to benefit financially as co-hosts. More pertinently, the ICC also said that the option of neutral venues - which Pakistan had been pursuing - had also been rejected.

"There is no question of a fifth country," Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said. "The board has considered that and decided that 14 matches that were allocated to Pakistan should take place in the other three host countries - India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh."

But Ijaz Butt, PCB chairman, said the option would be discussed again at a meeting of the ICC's central organizing committee (COC). The ICC has asked the COC to meet and report back to the governing body on how Pakistan's share of matches will be divided among the rest. "Without having the full ICC release in front of me, I can say this much that we will make an effort [on trying Abu Dhabi and Dubai as neutral venues] and that remains our suggestion," Butt told Cricinfo.

It will not be easy, as the three co-hosts - India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - are very resistant to any such move, arguing that it dilutes the concept of a subcontinental World Cup. The PCB's relations with the three are not ideal either for such negotiations; the most recent manifestation is the cancellation of a Pakistan Under-19 tour to Bangladesh on security grounds, a tour scheduled as far ahead as October.

But Pakistan's legal push has already reaped benefits; they still stand to make nearly US$10.5 million from a tournament in which no matches will be hosted on their soil. Further push might bring further reward. "We fully respect the IDI [commercial arm and decision-making body of the ICC] and its capacity to make decisions, but our legal action will continue," Butt said. "We made six requests to the ICC, which we said must be met; four of them have been accepted, including the fact that we cannot be denied our hosting rights and the revenue from that. Two issues remain, one of which is the Abu Dhabi and Dubai option. This we will discuss at the COC meeting."

The other issue is the location of the COC's headquarters. The tournament secretariat was set up in Lahore but was relocated to Mumbai after the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team in March. The PCB, says Butt, wants to keep the secretariat in Dubai, but that, it seems, would be largely dependent on whether matches are held in the Gulf area.

"Though cases are still pending, we are more than keen on a settlement with the ICC over the issue. Some hurdles have been created by other members but we are still hopeful that a solution will be reached," Butt said.