Johannesburg-Zimbabwe has been handed a tough draw for the next International Cricket Council World Cup that will be jointly hosted by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2011. The underachieving cricket side has been drawn alongside world champions Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Canada and Kenya in Group A of the 14-team tournament.
The draw was conducted during the ICC Board meeting in Johannesburg concluded today. The other group consists of India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and The Netherlands.
Zimbabwe faces an uphill battle to give a good impression in the tournament after a dramatic slide in cricketing fortunes in recent years. The nosedive was a result of senior players quitting in droves following disagreements with Zimbabwe cricket leadership over a number of issues, including salaries. The country subsequently lost its Test status.
Meanwhile, the ICC board met in Johannesburg from Monday and made a number of resolutions aimed at developing the sport. A discussion took place on the promotion of cricket. It was agreed to extend the scope of the project from promotion to include product research and analysis concerning Test, ODI and T20I cricket. A competitive analysis of other sports and entertainment products will be carried out by a working group and there will be further research carried out into various proposals for product development and variation of Test cricket, such as day/night Test matches, ICC said in a statement to The Zimbabwean.
The working group will be chaired by ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat and will include a representative from each Full Member as well as the ICC General Manager Commercial, Campbell Jamieson and ICC General Manager Cricket, David Richardson.
Besides the ICC Board also approved the schedule for the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, which will take place in New Zealand in January 2010.
Post published in: Cricket