London: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced that there will be no reserve days for rain-affected matches in the preliminary round of next year's World Cup.
In a joint statement, ICC and the World Cup organising committee said the ICC Executive Board for the logical necessities of completing the tournament took the decision. "The ICC World Cup 2003 is a significant logistical challenge. The tournament is taking place in three countries, at 15 venues over 43 days. For this to be managed effectively, the schedule needs a degree of certainty in the first round," said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed. However, reserve days will still apply to matches from the Super Six stage of the tournament from March 7 and the two semi-finals on March 18 and 20. For the final at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on March 23, two reserve days have been set aside. World Cup executive director, Dr Ali Bacher, also said the reason to scrap the reserve days in the preliminary round was based entirely on logistical necessities. "Everything, including hotel accommodation, air-travel and satellite television time, would have had to be double booked to accommodate these reserve days," Bacher said. "Logistically for the teams, their supporters, the local and overseas media and the organisers this created several potential risks to the tight schedule and had the potential to disrupt the remainder of the tournament," he said.
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Tags: cricket, london, international cricket council, reserve day, rain-affected matches, preliminary round, world cup, world cup organising committee, logistical challenge, schedule, malcolm speed, super six, dr ali bacher.
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