Latest News Of The ICC Cricket World Cup

The ICC Cricket World Cup in India. The latest about player injuries and team changes. Talk of the Venues and Fixture changes. Eden Gardens.

As the countdown to the World Cup has begun, a few interesting developments have taken place. The injury woes for certain teams have been a key area of concern and the likes of Kevin Pietersen have voiced their opinions about the compact schedules before the all-important Word Cup. The tournament is supposed to begin on 19 February 2011 in the Indain sub-continent and most top sides have been engaged in competitive cricket with the ICC World Cup round the corner.

The English team would miss the services of star batsman, Eoin Morgan in their quest for the cup. He got injured while the English were playing Australia in a long, seven-match ODI series down under. Another addition to the casualty list during that series was the Aussie off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, who will be replaced by Jason Krezja, another off spin bowler. The kangaroos have already lost Mike Hussey, a key finisher in their side, to an injury as well. The Australian skipper is already nursing an injury he sustained during the Ashes series, which has forced him to miss the fifth Ashes test and the whole of the Commonwealth Bank series. He had said that he would fully recover for defending the World Cup which the Aussies have had won for past three times. The Indians meanwhile would miss the swing of Praveen Kumar in the World Cup, as he is out with an elbow injury he sustained while practicing ahead of the ODI series in South Africa. Sreesanth has replaced him. Many players have raised their concerns about the scheduling being a factor for the injuries to key players ahead of the World Cup.

As far as the news of the venues is concerned, the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, seems likely to host its remaining three matches slated to be played in March. The historic venue had lost the crucial India-England tie after an inspection team of the ICC deemed it unprepared to host the all-important game. Another inspection by the ICC was done on the 7th of February and the team from the ICC is optimistic about the Eden Gardens hosting the remaining three matches of the group stage. However, the loss of the India-England game has disappointed the cricket lovers in Kolkata. Kolkata’s loss has been Bangaluru’s gain as that tie has been shifted to the IT city of India. Anil Kumble, the former captain of the Indian cricket team is a now in charge of the Chimmaswamy stadium as he is the newly elected President of the Karnataka State Cricket Association. He said that he is enjoying the new job and has taken on the challenge of hosting the India-England game at short notice. The ICC inspection committee confirmed that the Chinnaswamy Stadium looks all set to host the showpiece event.