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Sutherland doesn't rule out Sydney final

30th January, 2012
7

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland hasn’t dismissed the idea of Sydney’s ANZ Stadium hosting the final of the 2015 World Cup.

The Sydney Olympic Park venue will hold its first international cricket match on Wednesday when Australia play India in a Twenty20 match.

In a report in News Limited newspapers, Cricket NSW boss Dave Gilbert suggested the 82,000 capacity at the ground makes it a possible rival to the MCG when a decision is made for the hosting of the World Cup final in three years’ time.

Although Gilbert himself concedes the chance of the iconic MCG – which hosted the only other World Cup final to be held in Australia or New Zealand in 1992 – not being given the rights for 2015 are slim, Sutherland said the competition could be tougher than many think.

“We might just read into it with the Twenty20 match being played on Wednesday night at the Olympic stadium, the first international match being played at the Olympic stadium in Sydney, that NSW might be making a little sly move to stake their claim for the final,” Sutherland told Melbourne radio station SEN.

“That venue has been approved for international cricket and I know there’s a great deal of interest mounting for that (the final), everyone wants the premium matches.

“It will be very interesting to see how that unfolds. The MCG’s obviously got the history of holding the World Cup final in 1992 between England and Pakistan and we’ll see how it turns out.”

The 2015 World Cup will be played in Australia and New Zealand in February and March but venues and specific dates are yet to be confirmed.

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