The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday declared that the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup will be held on 17 February in Bangladesh.

However, the first match of the World Cup will be played on 19 February in the same country.

Earlier, the ICC had said that both the first match and the opening ceremony would be held on February 19 in Bangladesh.

The full match schedule with venues would be announced by the ICC on November 9 from Mumbai.

Notably, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will jointly host the 2011 World Cup. Due to the security reasons, Pakistan was scrapped as hosts by ICC.

Speaking with the reporters, tournament director Ratnakar Shetty said: "We have continued to make real progress. We are operating at full steam ahead for what should be a great event in 2011."