Emirates airline and Dubai have provided the perfect solution to what could have turned out to be a logistical nightmare with less than 10 days to go for the start of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup to be held in the West Indies in the wake of flight disruptions caused by the Icelandic ash.

The Board members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) are confident the Twenty20 extravaganza will go ahead as scheduled from April 30 to May 16, after much deliberations during a two-day meeting at the game's headquarters in Dubai.

"There are lot of logistical challenges," said ICC's Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat. "But we have a back-up plan of re-routing the flights of the teams that could be affected. Three of the teams are already there in the Caribbean – Ireland, Zimbabwe and hosts West Indies. With New Zealand travelling via the United States, seven of the remaining eight affected men's teams could be airlifted direct to the West Indies from Dubai with the aid of ICC partners Emirates.

"We are extremely grateful to our commercial partner Emirates for putting forward a charter-flight option."

Their only problem is England with ICC President David Morgan and England and Wales Board representative Giles Clarke failing to attend the meeting.

However, Dubai could serve as a transit point for all teams to fly out for the competition if the travel chaos remains. "We are discussing chartering an aircraft with Emirates if all else fails. Emirates could facilitate all teams out of Dubai. England is a separate challenge and some of the players are taking part in the IPL tournament in India," he said.

The ICC Board endorsed the contingency plans being made by the ICC executive team to ensure that all players, team management, match officials, support staff and television crews and equipment can reach the Caribbean.

"We assure that everything possible would be done to ensure England travel to West Indies," said Lorgat who ruled out a change in venue to the UAE or elsewhere. "If the teams can come to Dubai they can travel to West Indies," he said.

Asked about the impact of the Bangalore blasts on next year's World Cup to be held in the sub-continent, Lorgat replied that the ICC has appointed its own full-time security manager in Sean Carroll from Australia. "Chairman of the ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit Lord Condon reported that all the recommendations made by the ICC's Task Force, which looked into safety and security after the Lahore attack last year were now accepted, with all Full Members having appointed security directors," he said.

On the positive side, he added that prize money has been increased to $10 million (Dh36.7m) for the World Cup. The ICC Chief Executive said they were watching the allegations unfolding against IPL Match Commissioner Lalit Modi, who attended the ICC Board meeting on behalf of Indian Board president Shashank Manohar.

"We never discussed the matter because it is entirely an issue for BCCI [Indian board] to decide. Whatever allegations of matchfixing are only allegations. It is a domestic issue," he said.

"Any bad practice is bad for the game. But once again these are only allegations," he commented when pointed out that the IPL scandal has sullied the image of the sport.

Lorgat said they deferred the decision to move the ICC headquarters for its June meeting while the nomination of John Howard as the next ICC Vice-President will now be taken forward by the ICC President, Vice-President and Chief Executive.

The ICC reiterated its desire and support for Pakistan to continue to play international cricket. It noted the importance of resumption of bilateral fixtures between Pakistan and India soon.

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