ICC announces venues for 2007 World Cup

LONDON, JULY 6 (PTI)

The 2007 Cricket World Cup will be played at eight venues in the West Indies from mid-February to April. The names of the venues were announced by International Cricket Council President Ehsan Mani at a press conference in London on Monday.

Six of the eight venues will be upgraded with better seating capacity while new venues will also be built in Guyana and Antigua.

The eight venues were selected from amongst 12 bids after the ICC's Venue Assessment Team took into consideration factors from security and spectator facilities to finance, accommodation, political environment, and media facilities.

The 2007 tournament will be the biggest World Cup yet, with 51 matches to be contested between 16 teams.

The second round format has been changed from Super Six as in South Africa to a new Super Eight format.

The schedule for the tournament, which begins in April 2007, will be announced at a press conference in the Caribbean on July 13.