Home knockout for World Cup hosts

Kumar Sangakkara at Colombo's R Premadasa Stadium, where Sri Lanka could play a World Cup semi-final should they qualify

Buy this photo

Host countries will play quarter and semi-finals on home soil in the 2011 World Cup under a proposal backed by the International Cricket Council’s chief executives’ committee.

Following the
tournament schedule announcement in Mumbai on 9 November, the competition’s organising committee recommended the move and now have approval from the chief executives of the world’s leading nations.

Under the recommendation, which will be considered next February by the full ICC board, where two co-hosts are involved, the higher-ranked side from the group stage will host the match.

At present, two quarter-finals are scheduled for Dhaka, with the other two to take place in Ahmedabad and the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The first semi-final will take place in Colombo, and the other in Mohali.

Further talks on the MCC’s proposed World Test Championship took place during the two-day meeting in Dubai and a five-man committee, including ECB chairman David Collier, will draft a discussion paper ahead of the next chief executives’ meeting.

The committee also approved a recommendation that the semi-finalists from the 2010 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 qualify for the 2012 event and granted one-day international status to the Olympic Stadium in Sydney.