New Delhi, India

Geoff Allardice, International Cricket Council (ICC) chief, has declared that the governing body is very close to announcing ICC Men's 50-over World Cup schedule. With the mega event slated to start in around four months, around October 5th, per previous reports, the final dates and venues are yet to be public.

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This comment has come after Jay Shah - BCCI's secretary, during IPL 2023, said the home World Cup schedule will be announced on the sidelines of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) Final in London. However, as per a report in ESPNcricinfo, sources in the loop have announced the apex body will take one more week before breaking the final schedule to everyone.

As a matter of fact, the schedule for the Men's 50-over World Cup for the 2019 edition in England was announced 13 months before the first match, while for the edition before that in Australia and New Zealand in 2015, the schedule was made public exactly 18 months before.

ALSO READ: WTC Final, Day 2 - Preview: Following troubled start, clueless Indian team to aim for comeback

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"I think even today (Wednesday), we might be receiving the schedule from the hosts, and we've just got a bit of consultation to do with all the participating teams and the broadcasters. Then we'll be publishing that as soon as we possibly can," Allardice told BBC's Test Match Special in an interview. "When we put on events, we very much work hand in hand with the hosts.

"And in some places, there's a lot of consultation that needs to take place, both within the cricket system and with governments, etc. There's a lot of responsibility on a host to deliver a good event, and they've got to go through the right checks and balances," Allardice added.

The ICC chief was responding to a question whether Pakistan's latest stance on their unwillingness to play any game at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is one of the reasons for the delay in announcing the schedule.

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He said, "Until I see the schedule… I'm waiting, and I'm hoping that I'll see something in the next day or two on that."

"Our events team is very experienced at putting on cricket events in all different countries, and you control what you control.

"And I think that's the approach that our team is taking, and they're working on the things that they can progress for the event. The moment we have that information, we'll be pushing on it at a rate of knots."

Earlier, ICC members including Allardice were in Pakistan to discuss their participation amid reports of Men in Green opting to boycott the mega event in India owing to drama surrounding hosting of Asia Cup 2023. 

Some reports even suggested the World Cup will begin on October 5th and end on November 19th.

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