Pakistan to challenge to World Cup move

CRICKET: LAHORE, Pakistan, May 9, 2009 - Pakistan is mounting a legal challenge to the International Cricket Council’s decision to move its World Cup matches over security fears, the nation’s cricket governing body said Saturday.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said the decision to deprive it of the fixtures was legally flawed, and that it had served notice of the challenge through its lawyer to ICC president David Morgan. “The PCB believes that the manner in which the decision was taken, with no security assessment of Pakistan or any other host country and without the issue being on the agenda of the meeting, it was legally flawed,” PCB chairman Ijaz Butt said Saturday.

The ICC last month stripped Pakistan of 14 World Cup matches, including a semi-final, citing the “uncertain security situation” in the country.

Co-hosts India will now host 29 matches inclusive of a semi-final and the final, while Sri Lanka will host 12 matches with one-semi-final and Bangladesh eighth matches and the opening ceremony. “There was no prior notice that the Cup matches will be moved and more could have been done in an indiscriminate manner before the decision was taken,” said Butt.

“We believe that more could and should have been done to review the actual situation to deal with the matter on a non-discriminatory basis.”

Butt said the issue had been referred to the president of the ICC’s dispute resolution committee.

AFP