Cricket’s biggest event returns to Asia in 2011

DUBAI: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka will jointly stage the tenth edition of the cricket World Cup in 2011. They defeated Australia and New Zealand to win the right to stage the tournament.

International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani announced the decision after a meeting lasting seven-and-a-half hours at the ICC headquarters here on Sunday.

Australia and New Zealand were awarded the eleventh edition of the Cup in 2015 with the England and Wales Cricket Board getting the right to host the tournament in 2019.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said, “Issues like the administration, quality of venues, support of the government, and taxes were discussed and the decision was taken after a long debate.”

He did not reveal the division of votes, saying the decision reflects it. “It was the passion in South Asia for the sport that influenced the decision,” he said.

BCCI vice-president IS Bindra said, “It is a great honour that the World Cup is coming to the subcontinent for the third time.” Bindra was involved with the bidding for and management of the event on all three occasions.

“Apart from being an honour, it is a challenge for all of us to ensure that the infrastructure and every other requisite are in place to make it a success,” said Shahryar Khan, PCB chief.

The Australians were disappointed. “We thought we had a very good proposal,” said Creagh O’Connor of Cricket Australia.