Eden Gardens likely to host remaining 3 matches – ICC

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – The fate of the remaining three  World Cup matches at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens looks safe after the  International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday said it has  received an “encouraging” report from its inspection team.
In a major embarrassment that revived bitter memories of  India’s struggle to get Delhi ready for last year’s Commonwealth  Games, Eden Gardens was stripped of the Feb. 27 India v England  match last month because of a delay in construction work with  Bangalore being the beneficiary.
An ICC inspection team returned to Kolkata on Monday to  assess Eden Gardens’ readiness for the remaining three matches  at one of India’s best known grounds and ICC chief executive  Haroon Lorgat sounded happy with the progress.
“I have received some preliminary reports that are quite  encouraging. I think the progress has been very good in the past  week since we were there on Jan. 25,” Lorgat told reporters.
“So I envisage, in all likelihood, the remaining matches in  March would be retained in Eden Gardens.”
The three games still due to be held at Eden Gardens are  South Africa v Ireland on March 15, Ireland v Netherlands on  March 18 and Kenya v Zimbabwe on March 20.
Lorgat also ended local media speculation that the local  organisers might put a request to the Indian cricket board and  the ICC to move the March 6 India v Ireland match from Bangalore  to Eden Gardens.
“We have not received a request of that yet. I think it  would be extremely difficult…It may not be practically  possible.”
Lorgat also confirmed hot-spot technology, a key component  of the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) which is making its  World Cup debut this year, would not be used in the Feb.  19-April 2 event.
“We were always aware that there is a limited number of  hot-spot cameras in the world and it was always going to be a  case where we could not deploy it in all of the matches during  the World Cup.
“So it’s no surprise to us and I don’t believe it a setback  because the other specifications we have got is sufficient to  improve correct umpiring decisions by more than five percent.
“So we are quite satisfied with other technologies available  to support the umpires.”
Hot-spot cameras track the ball and provide images of its  contact with bat or pad.
The sub-continent has been particularly vulnerable to  corruption but Lorgat sounded equally positive about a  incident-free World Cup.
“We prepared very well and we’ll certainly deploy people to  prevent that sort of activity. Just yesterday and today the  whole ACSU (Anti-Corruption and Security Unit) units have  assembled and they are preparing strategies and they will be  pretty well prepared to ensure it is a clean event.”
Lorgat also favoured legalising gambling in India, saying it  would be easier to manage the issue if the betting industry was  regulated.
“It’s far easier to manage the issue and the temptation of  corruption if the betting industry is regulated or legalised.
“Where it’s not regulated, where it is illegal, it tends to  go underground and it becomes that much more difficult to manage  the issues. So we would like to find a way in which the whole  industry can be regulated and that’s what we are exploring.”