The International Cricket Council has allotted three additional matches to Bangladesh along with the five it was given earlier after Pakistan was dropped from the list of co-hosts. Instead of one venue, the ICC wants Bangladesh to use two stadiums for the matches.

The government had earlier decided to host the matches at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium and the opening ceremony at the BNS. But with the changed scenario, it has to choose another venue for the matches.
Cricket organisers said there should not be any hesitation in selecting the BNS as the other venue, though it is currently occupied by football and athletics after cricket made an exit from the venue in 2005.
They alleged that the four-party alliance government had banished cricket from the stadium only because it is named after Bangabandhu. They sent newspaper clippings to the media that carried the news of their movement against the move during the period.

The cuttings bear the names of top organisers and former players, who had expressed solidarity with them during the period and are now involved with the BCB in various capacities. The organisers said they should now come forward and use their power to bring cricket back to its previous home.

Moshiur Rahman Tutul, an official of Indira Road KC, Iqbal Yusuf of Kalabagan KC, Tabarukul Islam Arif of Nabin Sangha, Tarikul Islam Titu of Mohammedan Sporting Club spoke, among others, at the press conference.

India will host the final and one semifinal while Sri Lanka will stage the other semifinal. The other two quarterfinals will be hosted by the two co-hosts.

Bangladesh will stage eight matches at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on February 18, 2011. India will host 29 of the 49 matches across eight venues and Sri Lanka will host 12 in three venues.

“We [the board] are happy that we got two quarterfinals but it is true that we expected a semifinal. Sri Lanka wanted to hold the opening ceremony, giving us the semifinal but we kept the opening ceremony and were given the quarterfinals,” revealed BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus.

“Now that the number of matches are confirmed we are definitely looking forward to working hard and wasting no time,” said Yunus.

The BCB will decide on three venues for the eight matches with one kept as alternate before the International Cricket Council (ICC) hold their inspection of the venues.

“Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Fatullah Stadium, Bangabandhu National Stadium and Chittagong Divisional Stadium are the ICC approved Test venues so we would decide on the three venues for the World Cup before ICC comes for their inspection,” added Yunus.

BCB has less than two years now to be prepared for the opening ceremony as well as the matches but Yunus sounded confident of being ready.

“I think two years is enough time and I think it’s best if we don’t waste time and start working towards it,” said Yunus.

Cricinfo adds: The World Cup’s organising committee also decided to shift the tournament secretariat from Lahore to Mumbai. BCCI’s chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty was appointed the event’s managing director in place of Pakistani banker Salman Butt. The organising committee, headed by ICC vice-president Sharad Pawar, will include an operations and planning group comprising the Bangladesh Cricket Board senior vice-president Mahbubul Anam, Indian board secretary N Srinivasan, Sri Lanka’s Duleep Mendis and Shetty. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC’s chief executive, said IS Bindra, the special adviser to the ICC, would be a key person in the management of the World Cup.

He swept aside questions on whether Pakistan would boycott the World Cup in protest at being denied hosting rights, saying “we will cross the bridge when we come to it.” The ICC had to decide on the redistribution of Pakistan’s 14 matches after it removed the country from the list of hosts because the “uncertain political situation” would have made it difficult to “deliver a safe, secure and successful event” in Pakistan.

Lorgat said the security concerns of the various ICC members and the players would be addressed with the formation of a special committee headed by Shashank Manohar, the BCCI chief, to oversee security details. “The security arrangements are very important and a special committee… would put together security plans for the successful conduct of the World Cup in 2011,” he said.

“We are confident of organising a very successful World Cup,” Lorgat said.

The subcontinent last hosted a World Cup in 1996, when India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka shared the games. The final was in Lahore, where Sri Lanka beat favourites Australia in a famous win.

The cricketers with the exception of Mohammad Ashraful and Masrafe Bin Mortaza, had been asked to report to Bangladesh team head coach Jamie Siddons at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium for training by 8:30 am today. Ashraful and Mashrafe currently are in South Africa to play the glamorous Indian Premier League for their respective franchise. The duo will join the squad directly in England.

Chief selector Rafiqul Alam informed the players from the original list of 30 who had not been picked in the shortened squad will be on stand-by. These cricketers will be available for selection in the Bangladesh A Team, Under 19 Team and GP-BCB National Cricket Academy Team.

Team Management of Bangladesh A, Under 19 and GP-BCB Academy have been instructed to give special attention to fitness and performance of these players so that they are mentally and physically prepared to play if they are called up in the National T20 Squad.

The final squad of 15 for the ICC World T20 will be officially announced in the first week of May, informed the chief selector.  The players, who will play in the Chittagong Twenty20 Premier Cricket League will be allowed to be absence in practice session.

“We want to give them a chance to cope with the shorter format of the game. As we don’t have any chance to play any Twenty20 match, the tournament organised by the Chittagong authority is great really which would help the players,” said Rafiqul.

The team management informed Shakib Al Hasan is yet to recover from his injury fully and he would not take part in the formal practice session as per cautionary measurement for some days but he will be with the squad and will do some light practice. The team management doesn’t want to take any risk with the most valuable player. After recovering fully, he will take part in the practice session.

“We want Shakib as a full fit player. He is our main weapon and we don’t want to take any risk with his,” added Rafiqul. Before the mega event, Bangladesh will play six shorter version warm-up matches, all at the SBNS.

Bangladesh national squad will play the first three warm-up matches against second string Bangladesh A team — two matches on May 13 and the other on May 15. The Tigers will play the remaining three matches against India’s Maharashtra Cricket Association team on May 17, 18 and 19 respectively.

Squad: Mohammad Ashraful, Masrafe Bin Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddique, Roqibul Hassan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain Rajib, Syed Rasel, Mehrab Hossain Junior, Imrul Kayes, Mahmud Ullah  Ryad, Nazmul Hossain, Mahbubul Alam Robin, Rubel Hossain, Ziaur Rahman, Shamsur Rahman Shuvo, Suhrawardi Shuvo and Mohammad Mithun.