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.

It was a vital win for the Motijheel outfit, which has now enabled them to brighten their Super League chances as well as keeping their hopes alive in the title race as they improved their tally to 11 points from nine matches.

Biman’s second defeat in the nine games however paved the way for Abahani to take a solo lead in the point-table as Mashrafe Bin Mortaza led from the front with an all-round performance, to secure a 25-run victory for the defending champions against BKSP at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium.

MOHAMMEDAN-BIMAN

The dashing left-hander Jayasuriya scored only two runs but it was former Tigers paceman Aziz who hogged the spotlight in the clash of the heavyweights.

Tareq first claimed four wickets conceding 36 runs as Biman were all out for 231 runs in 48.5 overs, after opting to bat first despite opener Nazmus Sadat’s stroke-filled 80.

Tareq then played a pivotal part with the bat in front of a sparse crowd at the big bowl as the number ten batsman smashed a straight six off spinner Nabil Samad, which brought the winning runs for Mohammedan with two balls to spare.

One down Nadimuddin however top scored with 51 off 91 balls that featured three fours and a six while Nasiruddin Faruque and Faisal Hossain scored 38 runs each.

Earlier Sadat smoted eight fours and three sixes during his 70-ball 80 while skipper Sanwar Hossain contributed 41 off 68 balls with one boundary as Biman put up a decent total on the board.

Besides Tareq, pacer Dollar Mahmud claimed three wickets for 51 runs while Jayasuriya took two for 38 runs.

BIMAN: 231 all out in 48.5 overs (Sadat 80, Zahid 20, Sanwar 41, Mushfiqur 24, extras 22; Tareq 4-36, Jayasuriya 2-38, Dollar 3-51)
MOHAMMEDAN: 234-8 in 49.4 overs (Faruque 38, Nadimuddin 51, Rokibul 27, Shamsur 28, Faisal 38, extras 16; Shahadat 3-38, Nabil 2-49)
Result: Mohammedan won by two wickets.

The left-arm appeared for the reassessment tests at the Australian Institute of Sports (AIS) in Canberra on February 23 where member of the ICC panel of human movement specialists conducted the assessment.

Razzak will be considered for selection for the home series if his action is declared legal in the ICC report but it must come before March 4.

The Pakistan team will arrive in Dhaka on March 7 to play two Twenty20 and five one-day internationals in Dhaka and Chittagong.

The national team’s preparation camp for the coming home series against Pakistan will be start from March 4 but chief selector Rafiqul Alam said that they will also prefer the national players play league matches as much as possible.

“The camp will start on March 4 or March 5 after selection of the national squad but we will release the players who has match until March 7. There is nothing better than playing competitive matches,” said Rafiqul yesterday.

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful also wants to play the league matches as much as possible.

“It’s always better to play competitive matches,” said Ashraful.