ICC postpones meeting with Pakistan

The meeting convened by the International Cricket Council (ICC) was to be held in Dubai on June 3 and would now be held in London on June 15, PCB legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi told AFP.

“We have been told the meeting will now be held in London on June 15 after some of the officials were unavailable,” Rizvi said. The ICC convened the meeting after the PCB served notice that it would challenge its decision last month to strip Pakistan of World Cup matches over security fears in the turbulent nation.

The ICC decision to relocate Pakistan’s 14 matches cited “uncertain security” in the nuclear-armed country, where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have killed more than 1,900 people since July 2007.

On April 28 the Cup Organising Committee (COC) also moved the World Cup 2011 secretariat out of Lahore, in Pakistan, to Mumbai, in India, prompting the PCB to lodge a complaint in a civil court in Lahore.

The Lahore court last week granted an order against the relocation of the secretariat.

Pakistan also sued the ICC, IDI (ICC Development International) and the COC World Cup 2011 last week, saying the World Cup secretariat cannot be moved until the legal notice was resolved.

At the request of the ICC “we are not taking any further legal steps until the June 15 meeting,” said Rizvi.

As the ICC decision stands, India will now host 29 matches, including a semifinal and the final, Sri Lanka 12 matches with one semifinal and Bangladesh eight matches and the opening ceremony.