The undersoil heating used by West Ham does not allow for the easy installation of a drop-in cricket pitch

Doubts have emerged over the feasibility of using the Olympic stadium to host matches during the 2019 Cricket World Cup after it emerged that additional work would need to be undertaken to make it suitable for the sport.

The transformation was already set to cost upwards of £6 million to remove seating and extend the playing surface, but it has now emerged that there is an additional problem relating to the surface: the undersoil heating in place for the football pitch used by West Ham United does not allow for the easy installation of a drop-in cricket pitch.

The only solution would be to use a large amount of topsoil to raise the level of the entire playing surface and then drop in the pitch.