Cricket: NZ joins last-minute push by World Cup applicants

South Asia says their region deserves at least one in every three World Cups, while Australia and New Zealand say it's their turn and they have the best facilities.

The decision on whether cricket's 2011 World Cup will be held across South Asia or in Australia and New Zealand is due from the International Cricket Council in Dubai tonight (NZT) - although it could yet be delayed.

India - the sport's new powerhouse - is spearheading the Asian bid and is confident of success, saying every third edition of the event should be held in the cricket-mad region.

"Our claim is a rightful one," said the sport's Indian chief Sharad Pawar. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have put up a joint bid for the 2011 event against another combined bid by Australia and New Zealand.

"South Asian has four of the 10 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," said Pawar.

"Our proposal is not about India alone. To see matches being held in more countries would mean more crowd participation."

Seven votes are needed among the 13 countries in the ICC's Executive Board to secure the rights and South Asia is already assured of four votes by virtue of the joint bid.

India and Pakistan have twice hosted the four-yearly World Cup, in 1987 by themselves and in 1996 with Sri Lanka.

Australia and New Zealand jointly organised the 1992 World Cup and say they have the right by rotation to host the event in 2011.

The joint bid for the 2011 event proposes India hosting 22 matches, Pakistan 14, Sri Lanka nine and Bangladesh six, assuming there will be 51 games at the tournament.

As in 1996, the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore has been put forward to organise the final, while India will host the two semifinals.

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said the main aspects in their favour were quality facilities and experience at hosting major sporting events.

"In very recent history, Australia has hosted the Olympics, Rugby World Cup and 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."

Cricket Australia and New Zealand Cricket have agreed that if their bid is successful, matches will be shared equally between the two countries.

No decision has yet been made on the location of the final, although the Melbourne Cricket Ground would be the obvious choice.

However, the MCG was the venue for the 1992 final, which could give the Kiwis a strong case to stage it in 2011.

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden said: "We have fantastic venues, solid infrastructure and professional staff who are experienced in event management at the highest level.

"The World Cup would provide significant cricketing, promotional and financial benefits to the game in both New Zealand and Australia."

Also working in their favour was Asia's inability to get their bid in on time.

ICC president Ehsan Mani was quoted as saying last week that the late submission had weakened their hand.

Mani has, however, denied the claims.

Whoever loses has the consolation of knowing that they will almost certainly hold the event in 2015.