Colombo substitute is ready

Cricket

Cricket

Bombay would be able to host the Sri Lanka-Australia World Cup match at the Wankhede stadium if it was shifted from Colombo following the bomb blast there, according to Bal Mahadalkar, secretary of the Mumbai (formerly Bombay) Association. "We would be ready to host the match if it was allotted to us," he said yesterday.

The game on 17 February is one of four games scheduled in Colombo and Kandy, and several of the Australian team have expressed fears for their safety. Their cricket board will discuss the possibility of forfeiting the Sri Lanka match at a meeting next week.

Craig McDermott became the victim of a hoax caller who claimed to have planted a bomb in his house in Brisbane yesterday. It follows a death threat to McDermott from Sri Lanka.

Ana Punchihewa, Sri Lanka's President of the Board of Control for , said the island would stage its four World Cup fixtures despite Wednesday's bomb attack which killed up to 80 people. "No sports event has ever been a target of attacks and the cricketers have nothing to fear," he said.

The West Indies will await an assessment of the security situation before deciding if they will play against Sri Lanka in Colombo on 25 February.