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Sub-continent’s top cricket officials would block a possible International Cricket Council (ICC) move to shorten the 2011 World Cup to be jointly hosted by Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

A source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told ‘The News’ that the organisers of the next World Cup would send a clear message to the ICC about their opposition to the idea of having a shorter World Cup when they meet in Bhurban next month to begin building a platform for the successful hosting of the quadrennial spectacle.

For them a shorter World Cup would mean less money and that, according to the source, would be unacceptable to the event’s organisers.

The top officials PCB and Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi boards would assemble for a series of meetings in Bhurban from June 17-19 to constitute the Central Organising Committee of the 2011 World Cup.

The World Cup would return to the sub-continent in 2011, 15 years after it was last hosted by the cricket-mad region. It would follow the 2007 edition held in the Caribbean in March-April — an event that was criticised all-over the cricket world for being too long and too dull.

Later, even the ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed admitted that the World Cup has been too long and gave an assurance that the ICC would take steps to make the tournament’s next edition shorter.

“We listen to criticism, and there has been a lot of it from people saying it’s been too long — so we’ll look to make it shorter. We’ll seek to reduce this 47-day World Cup by seven or 10 days, and hopefully we’ll get it down to somewhere between five and six weeks next time,” Speed was quoted as saying in an interview last month.

However, according to the source, Asian cricket officials do not agree with Speed. For them every World Cup matches means a guaranteed income of US$500,000 for the hosts.

The sub-continent is the financial engine of international cricket with most of sponsorship and television rights revenues coming from the region especially India.

“The ICC may be thinking about reducing the World Cup to five or six weeks but the Asian officials would not agree if any such idea does surface,” said the source.

Meanwhile, at the meeting in Bhurban, the officials from the four host countries would take a series of steps to form the central organising committee for the 2011 World Cup.

A decision would be made to open a bank account at a neutral venue, most possibly in Dubai.

According to a PCB official, issues like customs duty and income tax would also come up for discussion.

It is expected that the officials would unanimously elect the chairman of the World Cup committee. Sharad Pawar, President of the Indian cricket board (BCCI), is the hot favourite for the post. Former Pakistan Test cricketer Saleem Altaf, a PCB official, has already been appointed as the Executive Director of the committee.

Source:The News