KARACHI, (Reuters) – The 2011 World Cup should be  switched to Australia and New Zealand because of the security  situation and political instability in the Asian sub-continent,  former ICC president Ehsan Mani said yesterday.

“I would say the sensible thing to do would be to shift the  World Cup to New Zealand and Australia and have the 2015 edition  in South Asia,” Mani told Reuters.      “There is no guarantee the geo-political situation in this  region is going to improve soon,” the Pakistan-born  administrator said.

The International Cricket Council executive board ditched  Pakistan as one of the 2011 co-hosts last month because of the  security situation in the country with India, Bangladesh and Sri  Lanka remaining as venues.

The Pakistan board has mounted a legal challenge to the ICC  decision and also asked for the matter to be referred to an  independent arbitration tribunal.