2011 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony on 17th February in Bangladesh

The opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup will be held on 17th February in Bangladesh and the first match would take place on 19th February in the same country, the ICC announced on Wednesday.

The ICC had earlier said both the opening ceremony and the opening game would be held on February 19 in Bangladesh.

But the full match schedule with venues would be announced on November 9, it was decided by the Central Organising Committee (COC) of the mega event that met in Mumbai on Wednesday to continue preparations for the tournament.

The venues where the matches would be held in the three host nations India, Bangladesh and Sri Laka - would be inspected in October/November, the COC decided.

The COC also approved the operational plan and event budget.

All these matters would have to be vetted by the Finance Committee and the Board of the ICC.

Those attending the Central Organising Committee meeting in Mumbai were: Chairman and ICC Vice-President Sharad Pawar, ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat, ICC Principal Advisor IS Bindra, ICC General Manager (Commercial) Campbell Jamieson and Tournament Director Ratnakar Shetty.

Besides, BCCI President Shashank Manohar, secretary N Srinivasan and treasurer MP Pandove were also among those attended the meeting