Australia won the 2007 World Cup

The Cricket World Cup may become a shorter event if the sport's governing body gives the green light to the plan.

The idea is to make the 2011 tournament 38 days long after the 2007 event, which took place over 47 days, was criticised for being too long.

The International Cricket Council will also consider reducing the number of teams competing from 16 to 14.

The new format would include the top four teams from two groups of seven progressing to the last-eight stage.

606: DEBATE Have your say on the ICC's proposals

It looks likely that at least one of the proposals will come to fruition after ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed expressed his concerns to the BBC last April.

"We listen to criticism - and there has been a lot of it from people saying it's been too long - so we'll look to make it shorter," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"We'll seek to reduce this 47-day World Cup by seven or 10 days and hopefully we'll get it down to somewhere between five and six weeks next time."

The 2011 World Cup will be held in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.