Australia to challenge Asia for World Cup

Australia will proceed with a bid to stage the 2011 World Cup, a Cricket Australia offical said on Tuesday, despite reports that a joint Asian bid is being lined up. At the weekend it emerged that Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were uniting to bid for the tournament, and Shaharyar Khan, the Pakistan board chairman, indicated that Australia would not challenge them.

But Peter Young, Cricket Australia's general manager of public affairs, said that was not the case. "At this stage the ICC is just asking for expressions of interest and we are interested," he told Reuters. "The deadline is February and we will be going ahead with that."

The Australian bid could be in association with New Zealand, and Young said that they were confident they would be a strong candidate. "We haven't hosted the World Cup since 1992 and we have all the facilities and personnel to stage an event of this size again," he said. "We're exploring the option of a joint bid with New Zealand but if necessary we could go alone."

For the first time since the first World Cup in 1975, member nations are being asked to bid for hosting rights. The 2007 tournament in the Caribbean will be the last to be staged under a gentleman's agreement struck by the ICC which meant the event staging was rotated.