IPL to be held in South Africa
Reports suggest the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament will be held in South Africa
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Tuesday, 24, Mar 2009 11:05
The Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament will be held in South Africa this year.
The organisers of the lucrative competition today confirmed South Africa had been chosen as the new hosts ahead of England.
The Twenty20 competition has been forced to move away from India due to security concerns and IPL chairman Lalit Modi had earlier travelled to South Africa to assess its suitability for hosting the event.
The IPL in 2009 will now feature 59 matches across six venues and will begin a week later than planned, running from April 18th to May 24th.
"We are very happy to confirm that South Africa will host the 2009 Indian Premier League tournament," Modi said on Tuesday.
"The South African public loves Twenty20 cricket and Cricket South Africa (CSA) successfully hosted the inaugural ICC World Twenty20. Both these factors weighed heavily in South Africa's favour."
Before today's announcement Modi had raised concerns over the weather in England plus the scheduling problems with the tournament occurring at the same time as the London marathon and the Test series against the West Indies.
Speaking today, David Collier, chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said: "We wish the IPL every success in South Africa and are grateful for the letter of thanks we have received from the BCCI for the assistance and support we offered to IPL.
"However, we all recognised the difficulties and logistical issues involved in areas such as security when the G20 is meeting in the UK next week and the climatic challenges."
The later starting date of this year's tournament may cause some problems for the English players involved, such as Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff, as they may be needed on international duty.