The Pakistan Cricket Board might agree to forgo demand of hosting all the 2011 World Cup matches of its share as now its evident that they can't host the games at home due to security reasons and have to organise them at neutral venues.
"In the meeting held in London on June 15 with officials of the other host countries and the ICC President (David Morgan) and chief executive (Haroon Lorgat), PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt was given a clear indication that a compromise needed to be found at the next meeting on June 19 to resolve the legal wrangle over the World Cup matches," sources in the PCB said.
"The idea brokered at the meeting is that Pakistan agree to hosting a reduced number of matches and it would retain hosting fees for the other matches it agrees to concede to the other host countries," he added.
The ICC executive board earlier had moved the 14 World Cup matches out of Pakistan after the terror attack on Sri Lanka team in Lahore.
But the PCB launched a legal challenge against ICC's decision forcing the game's highest governing body along with other co-hosts - India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - to come to the table.
"The compromise formula being given to Pakistan is that if they host all 14 of their World Cup matches at neutral venues like Abu Dhabi and Dubai it would affect the prestige of the World Cup," one source said.
Cricket boards of India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had met in Mumbai few days after the ICC's decision and distributed Pakistan's share of 14 matches among themselves with the BCCI taking the lions share.
"The Indian board is not willing to return hosting rights for the matches it has got but ready to part ways with the hosting rights of some matches and has agreed that Pakistan should be financially compensated for the number of matches it does not host," the source said.
Although the PCB had pushed the ICC to allow Pakistan to host the matches at home but the ICC and other co-hosts told Butt that it would be all but impossible, given the security conditions in the strife-torn country.
"They stressed on Butt that with less than two years left for the World Cup and with preparations already behind the schedule, Pakistan needed to drop its legal proceedings and cooperate with the others in making the tournament a big success," the source said.
Pak may host fewer matches in 2011 WC
Advertisement