Eden Gardens will not host India-England World Cup match: ICC
The International Cricket Council has confirmed that Eden Gardens of Kolkata will not host the World Cup fixture between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 and England on 27 February, 2011.
The sport’s governing body fears the under-construction venue would not be ready in time. This was confirmed by the ICC chief executive http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Haroon-Lorgat-c61719 on Thursday, 27 January, 2011.
“Regrettably, Eden Gardens has not made sufficient progress to justify the level of confidence required to confirm that the venue would be ready in good time,” said Lorgat. “This was no easy decision to take and while it is most unfortunate, it is absolutely necessary.”
ICC’s inspection team visited the under-construction venue on Tuesday, 25 January amid concerns regarding the preparedness of the stadium ahead of the World Cup. The three-member ICC team used the knowledge and experience of some of the most renowned names in the field of stadium and ground preparation. The unanimous opinion of the experts was that the stadium would not be ready by the 27 February deadline.
The venue has undergone vast redevelopment and missed two deadlines earlier. The ICC then gave a final deadline of 31 January for completion of construction work but the Cricket Association of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bengal-c771 failed to meet this last deadline as well and is now seeking a renewed deadline of 5 February, 2011.
The CAB president http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jagmohan-Dalmiya-c65287, negating the deadlines, had expressed confidence that the venue would be on course to host the match well before 27 February.
“There was never a timeline. It's an ongoing process and we will be ready by dot February 27. There was no other day in between,” he said.
The venue is scheduled to host three more matches as well.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 on 20 March.
Sources have claimed that the match between England and India might be shifted from Eden Gardens to M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
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