LAHORE, Nov 7: With less than two and a half years left in the 2011 World Cup, to be organised jointly by Asia’s four Test playing countries, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to set up its secretariat for the mega event without any further delay.

Saleem Altaf, PCB’s Director General, who returned home on Thursday from India after attending a meeting on the 2011 World Cup, chaired by the ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat, said the game’s world governing body was very keen to start the work for the World Cup as it had already been delayed.

The 2011 World Cup is scheduled to be staged jointly by Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from Feb 20 to March 31.

According to the ICC rules, the secretariat must start functioning three years before the start of the World Cup.

Saleem said the ICC President David Morgan, Haroon Lorgat and chief of the World Cup organising committee and ICC Vice-President Sharad Pawar would visit Pakistan in January to witness the first Test match against India besides reviewing the arrangements for the World Cup.Saleem said that as per the decision, Chairman PCB Ijaz Butt was the convener of the central organising committee, for which a secretariat would be set up in Lahore.

Besides this central committee, local organising bodies would also be formed in the other three host countries.

Saleem informed that the matches would be held at 15 different venues, including four in Pakistan namely Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Multan. In all, 49 matches would be played in the 2011 spectacle with Pakistan to stage 14 games, he added.

On the World Cup budgeting, the PCB official said it would start soon, adding that the ICC would give the approval in this regard at its next meeting in June 2009.

According to the details, the opening match of the extravaganza will be played in Dhaka, the semi-final games in Lahore and Colombo while the final will be staged in India.

On India’s tour to Pakistan in January-February, Saleem said the BCCI has not shown any reluctance over it so far, adding India would send a security team to Pakistan, a common exercise in contemporary international cricket.

On their tour to Pakistan, the Indian team will play three Tests, five One-day Internationals besides a Twenty20 International.

To a question, he said the renovation work at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium was going on at snail pace with preparation of the ground being the major concern.

He feared that the venue might not be ready to host the Test and one-day matches against India, adding Faisalabad has been kept as an alternate venue.