NEW DELHI, Feb 24: The four South Asian Test nations formally decided on Friday to submit a joint bid to stage the 2011 World Cup. Indian and Pakistan board chiefs said an initial bid would be submitted to the International Cricket Council (ICC) before the February-end deadline with a request for more time to furnish the final document.

“We had very good discussions and we’ve all agreed in bidding for the 2011 World Cup,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan said after a meeting of board officials.

“However, there are certain financial, administrative and other modalities to be sorted out with the ICC,” he said. “We will also raise certain financial issues before signing the final document.”

The boards are confident the ICC would agree to extend the deadline, he said.

India, Pakistan, along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are jointly bidding for the event, held once every four years.

The 1987 and 1996 World Cups were also held in the region.

Australia are leading a rival bid with New Zealand.

Indian board president Sharad Pawar said the officials would meet again on Mar. 12 to work out details, including likely match venues.

The PCB chief said it would take some time to get tax exemption for proceeds from the event, mandatory for ICC events.

“We will inform ICC that the financial conditions they have set are not totally satisfactory,” he said.

The ICC stipulation was for equally distributing $10 million for each staging nation, which he said may not be fair to bigger nations staging more matches.

The next World Cup will be staged in West Indies in early 2007.—Agencies