The International Cricket Council (ICC) has assured the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that the robust security will be put in place during the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales. ICC discussed the security issue, raised by BCCI, during their quarterly meet in Dubai on Saturday.
BCCI brought the security concern of players and match officials in the eyes of ICC after tension between India and Pakistan reached a new high. Since the Pulwama terror attack on 14th February’s afternoon, where more than 45 CRPF troops lost their lives, both countries have reached a new level of stress in their relation.
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Since then, the voices are being raised to boycott Pakistan in the upcoming World Cup. The match between India and Pakistan is scheduled to be played on June 16 in Manchester’s Old Trafford Stadium.
ICC CEO David Richardson gave assurance to BCCI and said “As you would expect for a global sporting event, the ICC, in partnership with the ECB has a robust security plan in place for the Men’s Cricket World Cup. We work closely with the authorities in our host countries to ensure that the safety of players, officials and fans is a priority.”
He further added “Should those authorities raise the threat level of the event based on intelligence, we will, of course, uplift our security commitment as appropriate. We will continue to work with the ECB and our Members throughout the build-up to and during the tournament to keep everyone abreast of the situation.”
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However, BCCI was afraid of ICC turning down their demand of removing any member from their plans.
“There was no chance that anything like that would have happened. The ICC chairman made it clear that the decision to ostracize a nation is taken at the government level and ICC had no rule. The BCCI knew it all along but still took a chance,” a BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.
Among other decisions made during the ICC Board Meeting, the governing body decided to have a new composition of the Women’s Committee. While Clare Connor was confirmed as the chair of the committee, it was also announced that two Full Member representatives, one Associate Member representative, two CEC representatives, one Independent representative, one media representative, two elected player representatives and one ODI coach representative will form the committee. Anil Kumble was also reappointed as Chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee.
It was also announced that the United Arab Emirates and Scotland will host the ICC Men’s and Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier events later this year. The Women’s Qualifier will be in Scotland from September 7 while the men’s event will be played in UAE from October 11 with the final on November 3.
