All the conjuncture about the tentative ground situation in the Indian sub-continent in the aftermath of the 27/11 Mumbai terrorist attack and the deteriorating diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan have thrown up some uncertainty to the 2011 World Cup fixtures which are scheduled to be held in the sub-continent.

Duleep Mendis

So much so that the ICC placed the Australia-New Zealand combination as the stand by host if things go beyond redemption.

There are less than 400 days remaining for the tournament to be flagged down in Bangladesh in early February 2011.

In spite of all speculation the cricketing heads of the main countries who are involved in organizing the tournament are confident that things would be better by that time and that there wouldn’t be any snags that would impede the hosting of the tournament.

Speaking about the situation of the 2011 World Cup, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Chief Executive Officer Duleep Mendis said “We so far have no problems whatsoever. I am in close contact with the ICC World Cup secretariat where former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar is the President and the Pakistan Cricket Board head Ejaz Butt is the secretary. They are confident and have stated that so far things are sailing smoothly with no wrinkles at all.”

When asked if they have made a replacement for former SLC nominee Guy de Alwis who was appointed by the then SLC chief Arjuna Ranatunga a few days before the Interim Committee that he headed was thrown out of office, Mendis said “Now we are in the process of putting things in their correct perspective. We have appointed Hemasiri Fernando who is also the IOC head as the ICC tournament director (the position held by de Alwis) while the Central Organizing Committee will comprise Competent Authority S. Liyanagama, myself in my capacity as the chief executive officer of SLC and former interim committee member Lalith Wickremasinghe by appointment. These officials will comprise the Sri Lanka World Cup 2011 secretariat”.

When we asked Mendis when they were scheduled to meet next he said “Mr. Sharad Pawar is in the process of arranging the next meeting in the near future and I understand from that point onwards work would begin in earnest”.

A few weeks ago Ejaz Butt went on record claiming that the organizing of the World Cup was behind schedule.