Asia wins bid to host 2011 cricket World Cup

India and three other Asian countries today won the bid to host the 2011 cricket World Cup after defeating a joint proposal by Australia and New Zealand at the ICC's executive board meeting here.

The cash-rich South Asian bloc swept the voting by an overwhelming margin to ensure the cricketing extravaganza returned to the sub-continent after a gap of 15 years.

The ICC also announced that Australia and New Zealand would host the 2015 World Cup while England would stage the following edition in 2019.

Although the ICC bosses refused to disclose the margin of victory, BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi told a TV channel that the Asian bloc won 10-3.

The surprisingly easy victory for the four Asian Test playing countries "" India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh "" put an end to weeks of suspense on who would host the high-profile event.

"In the end, everybody supported the Asian bid. We have also decided that every third World Cup would be held in Asia," ICC president Ehsan Mani told a press conference after the meeting.

The result came as a boost to the Asian countries which had all along wanted that every third edition of the world cup should be held in the sub-continent since it accounted for four of the 10 Test playing nations.

Before the top officials of the game's governing body assembled here, there was talk that Asia's delay in submitting the compliance manual would weaken its case.