NEW DELHI. Dec 11: World Cup cricket officials began a two-month countdown to the

mega event Monday, working overtime to prevent a repeat of last month s stadium disaster which killed 12 and left 60 injured, reports AFP.

The collapse of a stadium wall in Nagpur on November 26 during a one-day international between India and New Zealand cast a gigantic shadow over the preparations for the game's greatest showpiece.

Hectic work is in progress to upgrade facilities at the 17 Cup venues in India before the month-long extravaganza gets underway with a hi-tech opening ceremony at Calcutta’s Eden Gardens on February 10.

The first match in the tournament, to be co-hosted by India. Pakistan and Srl Lanka, will be

the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on February 14

Pakistan will host 16 matches, including the final in Lahore on March 17. and Srl Lanka four.

Indian organisers have sanctioned three million dollars to renovate players’ dressing rooms, construct new stands and install floodlights in a bid to ensure that cricket's premier limited-overs tournament get* the

state it deserves.

Many centres have decided to sell fewer tickets to prevent overcrowding in the stands, a factor largely responsible for the Nagpur accident.

Former Test cricketer Shivlal Yadav, in-charge of the West Indies-Zimbabwe match in Hyderabad on February 16, said he had dropped the idea of erecting a temporary stand for an additional 10.000 spectators after the Nagpur accident.

The Ihdian section of the tournament's organising committee (INDCOM) will meet in Calcutta this week to review preparations, amidst media speculation that some centres were In danger of losing their Cup matches.

INDCOM will take a decision on Nagpur, which is scheduled to hold the Australia-Zimbabwe match on March 1. after receiving an enqjjiry report on the accident from the Maharashtra ^late government.

/ New Delhi's Ferozeshah Kotla. venue of the India-Sri Lanka match on March 2. came under a cloud when the federal government, which holds the lease to the sta dium. objected to renovation work there without permission

A senior INDCOM official said the match could be shifted to the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay if the impasse was not resolved.

INDCOM will name venues for night matches later this month, but it is expected that the two quarter-finals allotted to India, and both the semifinals, will be played at night.

Bangalore and Madras, venues for the quarter-finals, and Chandigarh, which hosts the second semifinal, have ordered lights to be installed. Eden Gardens, the other semifinal venue, already has lighting facilities.

Three league matches in India may also be played at night: West Indies-Zimbabwe at Hyderabad on February 16. India-West Indies at Gwalior on February 21 and India-Australia al Bombay on February 26.

Of the three, only Hyderabad's Lal Bahddur Shastri Stadium has lights at present Bombay and Gwalior are expected to have floodlights installed before the tournament starts.

There were no d*y-night matches when the World Cup wa» held In India and Pakistan in 1987. The trend was started by Australia, which co-hosted the last World Cup in 1992 with New Zealand.

The 12 countries taking part in the latest edition of the four-yearly event are: Defending champions Pakistan. Australia, England. New Zealand. West Indies. South Africa. India. Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe. Kenya. United Arab Emirate* and the Netherlands.