'Setting sun' sealed fate of Olympic Stadium as London venue is omitted from World Cup plans
[ad_1] The ICC was forced to abandon the notion of staging World Cup matches at London's Olympic Stadium next year, due to concerns that the setting sun would render one end of the pitch unusable from a playing and television perspective. Despite a clear desire to incorporate East London's iconic stadium into plans for what has been billed as the "World's Greatest Cricket Celebration", the tournament organisers were forced to admit defeat when the World Cup fixtures were confirmed by the ICC this morning. The omission was "very disappointing", said Steve Elworthy, the tournament director, who had envisaged turning the entire Olympic Park into a focal point for fans across London, with a particular emphasis on the Asian and Caribbean populations of the host borough, Newham. This decision came after an exhaustive feasibility study, which even included Andrew Strauss and Eoin Morgan shadow-batting along the three orientations - North-South, East-West and 5...