Cricket: West Indies skipper backs Kiwi bid for 2011 World Cup

Stephen Fleming

New Zealand's bid to co-host the 2011 Cricket World Cup has received support from an unexpected source.

West Indies skipper Shivnarine Chanderpaul, whose federation will host next year's World Cup, believes New Zealand would pass the tournament criteria test with flying colours, and prove a worthy co-host for the event.

Officials from New Zealand and Australia yesterday released a statement detailing their proposal to host the 2011 tournament, in opposition to a combined Asian bid from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The Australasian bid was to be presented to an International Cricket Council meeting in Dubai yesterday, but the Asian conglomerate have requested until March 12 to finalise their proposal. The winner will be announced in July.

Chanderpaul, whose West Indian side toured Australia before Christmas and have been in New Zealand since the start of this month, was in no doubt that the two countries had the necessary resources to make the tournament a success.

"Yeah, they are up there," he said of the New Zealand facilities. "They're comparable to anything else in the world, and it's the same with Australia too."

Australia and New Zealand last co-hosted the World Cup in 1992 and - under the ICC's rotational policy - were scheduled to stage the 2011 event after Asia (1996), England (1999), South Africa (2003) and the West Indies (2007).

But the ICC announced late last year its intention to abandon the rotational policy, and to instead implement a one-off bidding structure, after the sub-continent demanded every third World Cup on a geographical basis.

New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming, whose team will play the fourth one-dayer against the West Indies at Napier today, was more cautious in his reaction to the news, no doubt aware that the Asian bid was likely to attract the bulk of the ICC support.

"Well, it would be exciting news if it does come off," said Fleming. "It would be particularly good for New Zealanders, and will flow on from the Rugby World Cup success - so it was exciting to hear."

Former All Black skipper Tama Umaga played a key role in the New Zealand Union's successful 2011 rugby bid, but Fleming said he had been kept in the dark and had no idea whether he would be required to play a part in the proposal.

"I've got no idea, I'm not sure at all," he said. "I know only as much as the rest of you. But this bid has been professionally put together and is at an early stage; it's a long process.

"I look forward to catching up with Martin [Snedden] on it and seeing how it progresses. But it would be great if we could get it, that's for sure."

NZ cricket chief Snedden said yesterday he was satisfied that the transtasman neighbours had put together a compelling application.

"We're confident that we have a world class bid," said Snedden. "Both countries have the capability to host an outstanding event. We have fantastic venues, solid infrastructure and professional staff who are experienced in event management at the highest level.

"As part of the partnership we've agreed to a philosophy of sharing the matches evenly between the two countries, with the location of the final yet to be decided."

Meanwhile, Fleming confirmed yesterday that Ross Taylor would almost certainly make his ODI debut at McLean Park today, and that the injured Michael Mason would drop out of the 13 - leaving Kyle Mills as a likely starter.

As for Chanderpaul, he agreed that the stress of overseeing the West Indies worst-ever losing streak could be having an effect on his batting.

"There will always be pressure," he said. "No one expected it to be easy. You either get tough or you give up, it's an easy choice."


Fourth ODI

Napier, live on Sky Sport 1/Prime from 10am.

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Ross Taylor, Lou Vincent, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Peter Fulton, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Jeetan Patel, Kyle Mills, Shane Bond.

West Indies (from): Shivnarine Chanderpaul (c), Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Runako Morton, Wavell Hinds, Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Ian Bradshaw, Deighton Butler, Jerome Taylor, Rawl Lewis, Fidel Edwards.

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa), Billy Bowden (New Zealand).