Pakistan challenges ICC over loss of World Cup

KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's cricket authorities have mounted a legal challenge to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) decision to strip the country of the right to host 2011 World Cup matches.

"The ICC didn't consult us before taking this decision. We have sent them a legal notice," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ejaz Butt told a news conference in Lahore on Saturday.

"We don't think the ICC decision is sound on legal grounds. If they say the security situation in Pakistan prompted this decision then the security situation in India and Sri Lanka is also not good," Butt said.

He said the board would try to get a restraining order against the ICC, who announced last month that they were moving the matches because of the "uncertain security situation" in Pakistan.

The matches have been redistributed among the other three host nations, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

In a statement, the PCB said: "We are most concerned about the manner in which the ICC took this decision.

"There was no notice prior to the meeting that a decision of this nature would be taken. There was no proper security assessment of Pakistan nor of the other co-hosts of the 2011 Tournament. We believe that more could and should have been done to review the actual situation to deal with the matter on a non-discriminatory basis."

The ICC decision came after gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team bus on March 3 in Lahore, wounding six players and their assistant coach. Six policemen and a van driver were killed.

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