The International Cricket Council on Tuesday raised the prize-money for the 2011 World Cup, to be held in the Indian subcontinent, to a whopping US $10 million in order to underline the importance of its flagship tournament.
"The ICC Board agreed to set the prize money for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 to be held in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at a record USD 10 million in order to reflect the importance of the ICC's flagship competition," read a statement from the governing body after the conclusion of its two-day meeting in Dubai on Tuesday.
The new amount is exactly double the US $five million, which was on offer in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
The ICC is also implementing "extensive security plans" for the 2011 World Cup.
"The ICC places safety and security as its highest priority and as such is implementing extensive security plans around the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka," the statement added.
During the meeting, Chairman of the ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit Lord Condon reported that all the recommendations made by the ICC's Task Force, which looked into safety and security after the Lahore attack last year, were now accepted with all Full Members having now appointed security directors and the ICC appointing its own full-time security manager.
"A series of mandatory security standards for international cricket are being drawn up and will be presented to the ICC Board for consideration in June. These mandatory standards are the only remaining recommendation still to be implemented," the governing body said.
