Huge news…
Asia to host 2011 World Cup
Beats Australia and New Zealand by ten votes to three
Cricinfo staff
April 30, 2006
Asia have won the bid to host the 2011 World Cup by beating a joint bid by Australia and New Zealand by ten votes to three. The International Cricket Council’s executive committee met in Dubai on Sunday, and Asia were represented by Inderjit Singh Bindra, the former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). While the news did the rounds and reactions poured in an official announcement from the ICC was awaited.
“It will bring joy to millions and millions of Asians,” Raj Singh Dungarpur, former BCCI president said soon after the news was announced. “Ehsan Mani made the annoucement in the meeting. It has been also decided that Australia will get to host the World Cup in 2015 and the next edition will go to England unopposed. The whole decision process was cordial and that’s how the noble game of cricket should be played on and off the field.”
The result is a boost for the Asian group whose bid had been weakened by a late submission. Only recently Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, had said, “Their [Asia’s] strong case only weakened because of late submission of compliance book. Nevertheless, if Asia doesn’t win the right for 2011 World Cup, I am sure they would get the 2015 World Cup.”
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had made a bid and were allowed an extension until April 21 to set out their proposal after they had difficulty hitting the first deadline in March. They were up against a joint Australia-New Zealand bid for the tournament.
“We put in place some very strict compliance guidelines so a lot of work has gone into both of these submissions,” Malcolm Speed had told AFP a few days ago. “Both have government support and have indicated their ability to comply with strict ICC criteria regarding the number of venues, the quality of facilities and the exemption from tax.”
Top notch facilities and experience at hosting big events were in Australia and New Zealand’s favour. Australia and New Zealand jointly organised the World Cup in 1992 and feel they have the right by rotation to host the tournament in 2011. James Sutherland, chief executive of Cricket Australia, spoke of the factors that could help them clinch it. “In very recent history Australia has hosted the Olympics, hosted the Rugby World Cup and with the Commonwealth Games there’s a proven track record of performance that stands us in good stead,” he said. “The facilities, the track record of putting on these large sporting events, and also the resources that we have, the human resources we have in our country and New Zealand, are really strong factors in our favour.”
Meanwhile the Asian group had all along believed they had a strong case. They claimed that Asia deserved to host every third edition of the World Cup. “Our claim is a rightful one,” said Sharad Pawar, the chief of the Indian board. “The South Asian region has four of the ten Test-playing nations and a large part of the money earned from cricket comes from here, so there is good reason that every third World Cup be held here. Our proposal is not about India alone. To see matches being held in more countries would mean more crowd participation.”
In the end, when it came down to voting, the Asian group came through with a big majority.
