NZ on shortlist for cricket's 2011 World Cup - report

Unrest in Asia set to prompt rethink

New Zealand could find itself co-hosting the next cricket World Cup in 2011 with Australia because of the ongoing unrest in Asia according to a report in a Sydney newspaper.

New Zealand and Australia are set to host the World Cup in 2015 but the Daily Telegraph reported today that a meeting of International Cricket Council chief executives in South Africa will discuss putting other countries on standby.

That, according to the paper, could see New Zealand and Australia placed on standby to host the tournament.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are scheduled to host the tournament early in 2011 but the terror attacks in Mumbai last week and ongoing unrest in Pakistan has the cricket world on edge.

Already the ICC has cancelled the Champions Trophy which had been planned for Pakistan this year and the twenty20 Champions League, set for India this month, has been severely disrupted with South African and Australian sides pulling out.

Cricket Australia's chief executive James Sutherland told the Telegraph that safety and security issues surrounding the 2011 World Cup were "bound to come up" at next weekend's meeting.

"It hasn't been talked about but that may well have changed out of this Mumbai incident but one would hope the World Cup and other events that are planned for various places in the sub-continent can go ahead as planned," he said.

"But there will be plenty of things that will need to be planned in the fullness of time," he told the paper.

ICC spokesman James Fitzgerald said there had yet to be any discussions about shifting the tournament.

"A decision would have to be made soon if that was to happen because we need a good run in to get the World Cup ready on time," Fitzgerald said.

- © Fairfax NZ News