KEY POINTS:
Cricket officials are considering a range of options this week to spruce up the next World Cup in Asia in 2011, with a return to the 2003 cup format favoured by the four joint hosts.
After the wretched 47-day fiasco in the West Indies in March and April, International Cricket Council officials are meeting representatives from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as the heat goes on the 50-day game from its shorter, jazzy Twenty20 rival.
The two-week Twenty20 world championship in South Africa in September - India beating Pakistan in the final by five runs - captured the imagination and put more unwelcome attention on the debacle in the Caribbean.
Cricket Australia has said it would welcome a shorter version, and claims most nations do.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has put the case for a reversion to the 2003 format in South Africa, which had 14 teams in two groups of seven - this year had 16 teams in four groups, followed by a Super Eight stage - to be completed in a five-week window.
"We want to have a relatively smaller World Cup in 2011, both in terms of participating teams and the number of days," PCB chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi said.
"The idea is to ensure that our World Cup doesn't have the sort of ingredients that affected this year's tournament in the West Indies."
Those included their stunning demise at the hands of Ireland in the opening stage, and the death of their coach, Bob Woolmer, in a Jamaican hotel.
Another alternative would guarantee second round places for the world's top eight teams, with the bottom-rated six countries contesting the opening round.
The most popular format from the nine World Cups was the single league used in 1992, when New Zealand and Australia shared hosting rights. But that had nine teams, which was manageable.
Fourteen, or if the ICC choose to retain 16, is unworkable.
The four hosts held their own meeting in Bangalore before joining ICC officials.
