Australia back Asia to host World Cup

Cricket Australia (CA) would prefer to see the 2011 World Cup held in Asia. The staging of the showpiece event has been thrown into doubt following Tuesday's terror attacks in Lahore when buses containing the Sri Lanka team and officials came under fire from terrorists. Pakistan are one of four co-hosts for the 2011 World Cup, along with India, Sri Lankan and Bangladesh. Australia are on stand-by to host the tournament should the ICC deem it necessary to move the event - a scenario CA's James Sutherland said he would prefer not to see happen.

"Officially, we are the stand-by hosts for the 2011 World Cup," Sutherland said. "Our strong preference is for the event to go ahead in Asia, hosted by the countries that the ICC see fit." Meanwhile, Paul Collingwood said he still intended to feature in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL). The England all-rounder has a contract with Delhi Daredevils and expects to fulfil it, security permitting, despite cricket's latest disruption due to terrorism.

"As things unfold we will know more about what is being put in place by the IPL, but having been back to India before Christmas the security we had felt pretty good and at this stage I'm continuing as normal," he confirmed. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have postponed Pakistan's tour of the country, which was due to begin next week. * With agencies