South Africa have stuck with the 15-man squad which secured a 3-1 series victory over Pakistan for their World Cup campaign.”We are sending a strong, well-balanced and well-prepared squad to meet the challenges of Caribbean conditions against the best in the world,” said Gerald Majola, the chief executive of Cricket South Africa. “No stone was left unturned in ensuring that the players have had the very best preparation on offer.Makhaya Ntini will not travel with the rest of the squad to the Caribbean on February 28, instead staying behind for the birth of his second child. Ntini will join up with the squad in Trinidad ahead of the second warm-up match against Pakistan on March 9.Graeme Smith said: “”It is a huge honour to know I’m captaining this team to the World Cup, but to know I have full confidence in all 15 players just makes me prouder. This team has come a long way since 2003. It is much calmer and more confident. Everyone fits in really well, it is a happy team. Now we just need to adapt to conditions and deal with the pressures in the Caribbean.”Mickey Arthur, the coach, said: “The squad selected gives us all comfort in the belief that the goals set in preparation for the World Cup have been achieved.”The squad going to the Caribbean have proven their ability to take on the best and our performance at the Champions Trophy and our recent victories against India and Pakistan are an indication of the work put in by everyone.”Arthur expressed satisfaction with the bowling combination. “This is our best possible bowling combination and every option is covered in the squad. We have a containing new-ball bowler in Shaun and a strike bowler in Makhaya. Andre Nel’s job is to strike behind Makhaya and Shaun, while Andrew Hall and Charl Langeveldt provide variation, reverse-swing and bowl at the death.”Jacques Kallis is our fifth bowler and can swing it, Graeme Smith has been working hard on his off-spin and Justin Kemp has been working really hard on his cutters.”West Indies pitches are expected to be flat but Arthur is confident the team has the necessary skill to overcome the tracks. “We’ve recognised that we did look a bit one-dimensional when pitches were flat at the Champions Trophy, but we have worked hard on getting variation and reverse-swing. We hope we have all the bases covered and have enough variation to cover whatever comes up,” Arthur said.”The closer the tournament gets, the more the nervous excitement will grow. But no-one is scared, there is just the excitement of the hard work that will get us to number one,” Smith said.South Africa squad Graeme Smith (capt), Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Roger Telemachus

Ricky Ponting said it was “high and mighty” of Sunil Gavaskar to complain about poor on-field behaviour as Australia’s captain questioned his role in India’s lack of recent Test success. Gavaskar said this week Australia’s recent losses to England and New Zealand had “gladdened the hearts” of the game’s followers.”There is not the slightest doubt that in the last decade or so the Aussies have been awesome in batting, bowling and fielding, which has taken them to the top of the cricketing ladder,” Gavaskar, who regularly highlights Australia’s poor behaviour, wrote in , a national weekly. “But they have also been awful in the way they have sometimes behaved on the field much to the chagrin of the traditional fans of the game.”Ponting, who will lead Australia in their opening World Cup game against Scotland on Wednesday, said teams that dominated for a long period did not have too many supporters and then targeted Gavaskar. “We all know the way he played his cricket, don’t we?,” Ponting said in The Australian. “If he is talking about us, what about the way India have played their cricket over the last few years?”India won three of 12 Tests last year while Australia were successful in their ten games. “I know who I would rather be going to watch,” Ponting told the paper. “Have a look at how many Test matches they have won. He [Gavaskar] has been a big part of that, he has been a selector and he has been on the coaching committee. They might want to start to look at the way they play their own cricket rather than looking at us.”Ponting admitted he had been reported “more than anybody” since becoming captain – he was found guilty of dissent twice in 2006 – but returned to Gavaskar and recalled his attempted walk-off at the MCG in 1980-81. “Given out lbw to Lillee, Gavaskar indicated that he had edged the ball on to his pad, and was so enraged that he wanted to forfeit the match, ordering his partner, Chauhan, to walk off with him,” the Almanack reported. India’s manager stopped Chetan Chauhan from leaving the field.”For him to go on about behaviour, not too many captains have dragged their teams off the field, either,” Ponting said. “I don’t mind if ‘Mr Perfect’ comes out and goes on about our team, I know we are all not perfect. We are not going to keep everyone happy 100% of the time. But for some of these guys that have done it all themselves, it’s pretty high and mighty for them to say that.”

Peter Ingram hit a 210-ball 159, his fourth State Championship hundred, to take Central Districts to 375 for 6 on the opening day’s play against Canterbury at Napier. With Geoff Barnett on duty for Canada at the World Cup, Ingram was promoted as opener and put on 175 with Mathew Sinclair (78) after 16-year-old debutant Corey Anderson removed Jamie How for 34. Tim Weston (34 not out) and Robbie Schaw (12 not out) were together at stumps. Brandon Hiini (2for 76) and Chris Harris (1 for 49) the pick of the Canterbury bowlers.Canterbury began the game in third place, and need an outright win for a place in the final.Otago’s opening bowlers James McMillan and Bradlet Scott shared eight wickets to bowl Auckland out for 226 on day one of their State Championship game at Dunedin’s University Oval. McMillan, a right-arm fast-medium bowler, picked up 4 for 74 while Scott, a left-arm pacer, took 4 for 42 after captain Craig Cumming decided to bowl. Auckland were reduced to 129 for 8 before Mayu Pasupati and Pieter Erasmus (15) added 82 for the ninth wicket. Pasupati, on debut, finished with an unbeaten 76.By stumps, Otago were 10 for no loss. Auckland require an outright victory to keep any hopes of reaching the final.Half-centuries from Neal Parlane, Stu Mills and Chris Nevin helped Wellington get their chances of a final berth off to a good start against Northern Districts at the Basin Reserve. Parlane fell three short of a hundred, Nevin, the former international wicketkeeper made 59, and Mills was unbeaten on 54 as the hosts closed the first day on 301 for 8.Graeme Aldridge was again in the wickets, with 3 for 56, while Te Ahu Davis had 3 for 96 from 23 overs.ND held a four-point lead in the table going into the final match of the regular season, with victory assuring them home field advantage in the final. Wellington need to better Canterbury’s final-round result to claim a final place. If they complete an outright win, it should guarantee them a second successive home final, and third in four years.

The Super Eights stage of the World Cup is now with us and there is some uncertainty as to how it works. So, in an attempt to unmuddy the waters, here is a short guide …In the Super Eights round, every team plays six matches, against every other team except the side they played in the group stage.The only points carried into the Super Eights are the two gained from beating the other side that qualified from a team’s group. So, the four group winners – Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies – begin with two points from the victory over the second-placed side in their group.In the six remaining matches, there are two points for a win, one for a tie or a no-result.The venues for the teams are not based on where they finished in the group stages. They are pre-agreed. This has been done to ensure that those travelling to the World Cup know in advance where their teams will be based. Because the tournament is now, in effect, an eight-team league with everyone playing everyone, the original seedings are no longer relevant.Qualification for the semi-finals
The top four sides after the Super Eights go through to the semi-finals. First plays fourth in St Lucia on April 25 and second plays third in Jamaica on April 24.If there is a tie for positions, then they are separated as follows:The team with the most wins goes through;
if the number of wins are the same, net run-rate – including match against the other qualifier from the group stage – comes into play;
if – and it is very unlikely – NRR is the same then the team with the most wickets taken per balls bowled goes through.Weather
Every match has a reserve day although every effort will be made to complete the game on the first day, with over reductions being used throughout. Only if each side is not able to face 20 overs on the scheduled day will the reserve day be used. In the event of the reserve day being needed, the match will be continued and not restarted.

Gloucestershire opener Craig Spearman has been ruled out for six weeks with a broken foot as the club’s injury problems deepen. He picked up the injury during warm-ups ahead of the Friends Provident match against Ireland last Thursday.Scans revealed a broken bone and Spearman is now in doubt for the start of the Twenty20 on June 22. Steve Griffin, the club physio, said: “Craig has had an MRI scan, is currently in plaster and we will know more after seeing the consultant on Monday.”Spearman started the season with 249 runs in two Championship matches although his one-day campaign hadn’t got off the ground with 67 runs in three innings. His injury will leave Gloucestershire even more reliant on Marcus North’s contributions.This is the second serious blow in a week for Gloucestershire after captain Jon Lewis was ruled out for two months following surgery to remove floating bone fragments from his ankle.

Habibul Bashar is looking at the tour of Sri Lanka as an opportunity to bat himself back into form, especially since he doesn’t have the additional pressure of captaincy resting on his shoulders. Bangladesh play a full series against Sri Lanka, but Bashar’s focus was on the three Tests.Speaking to ahead of Bangladesh’s departure to Colombo, Bashar, 34, said he was keen on reminding the selectors of his worth. “After playing for a long time in the national team, there is hardly anything to prove as a player. But it’s altogether a different tour for me as this time I am not the captain of the team rather my main focus is to return among the runs to keep my place as a performer in the team.”I am not concerned about my career and right at the moment my main objective is to score runs as much as I can. The one-day series is not in my mind because I am only focusing on the Test series. I know how difficult the condition is but I am very confident.”After Bashar renounced the one-day captaincy last month, many expected him to quit the short format of the game altogether. But Bashar, despite an average of just 21.68 from 111 matches and the heavy criticism against him, felt that the extremely young Bangladeshi team still needed his experience.Speaking on his relatively low-profile image as captain, Bashar said: “Maybe I was not always the centre of attraction but I was always in the there, somewhere. The fact is that my batting was a bit hampered by the captaincy role. But now I can enjoy my batting fully.”Bashar said the last tour to Sri Lanka in 2005, where Bangladesh were swept in both the Tests and ODIs, was the worst of in his career as captain but he believes that this team is more confident. “I must say that the boys are now more confident. It is not easy to perform well in Sri Lanka where even the big teams, except world champions Australia, struggle. Our last tour was a disaster but I don’t think it would be same this time.”

West Indies’ tour of England has been plunged into further crisis with just two days to go until the Twenty20 internationals at The Oval, after Chris Gayle, the one-day captain, was condemned by the West Indies Cricket Board for refusing to back down from his recent criticism of the team’s shambolic tour arrangements.Gayle, who had already been smarting from the board’s initial vetoing of his appointment as one-day captain, hit out in his Cricinfo diary after the squad was forced to draft in five players from the local leagues to make up the numbers for their tour match against England Lions at Worcester last Thursday. The one-day specialists in the squad did not arrive from the Caribbean until the morning of the match, and so were unable to take part in the match.”The WICB says they want the best out of players but we also need the best out of the board,” said Gayle in his diary. “The board is always talking about players needing to change but we, the players, need changes from the board as well. We can’t be out in the wilderness all the time because we are the ones who are getting all the blame.”Gayle’s stance drew a sharp response from the board. Ken Gordon, the president, and Michael Findlay, the team manager, met with him on Monday for “lengthy discussions”, advising the player that his statement was “ill-advised and has caused unnecessary embarrassment to the WICB.” Gayle, however, was unrepentant and, in “a very strongly-worded letter of reprimand” was advised by Gordon and the board that his conduct was “totally unacceptable”.The matter is unlikely to end there, with the WICB threatening to pursue things further at the end of the tour. “The WICB is hopeful that notwithstanding his unwillingness to apologise, Mr. Gayle will understand the seriousness of his actions and avoid any further statements or behaviour that will force the WICB to take drastic and immediate action against him.”The intensity of the stand-off will only serve to deepen the resentment currently brewing in the West Indian camp. None of the senior board members were present during the 3-0 Test series defeat, and Gordon is only in the country to attend this week’s ICC meeting.Following an arbitration panel’s ruling last week which means that the WICB faces having to negotiate the contracts for this tour retrospectively, this public carpeting of one of their most senior players is an indication that those contracts are unlikely to be favourable to a team that, rightly or wrongly, feels it has been cut adrift by its paymasters.

What role does the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and its president, in particular, ascribe to the organisation in West Indies cricket? Mr Dinanath Ramnarine will no doubt answer that, as the players’ representative body in negotiations with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), his mandate is to secure the best interests of the people who employ him.That would be a correct conclusion but only so far as it goes since West Indies cricket, perhaps more than any other regional institution, is more than simply a matter between the board and the players. The rights of the West Indian populations who have supported their team through good times, as well as bad, have to be taken into consideration.This means that the WIPA has to see itself as being a trade union and more in the sense of having to reflect always on what damage, if any, its statements and actions are doing on the present and future prospects of the Caribbean’s acclaimed version of the game.Moreover, Mr Ramnarine would do well to consider that even as the players continue to receive packages superior to those of the stars of yesteryear, who did so much to raise the region’s sporting status, the assessment made about them, both here and abroad, has never been worse.Many West Indians hold fast to the view that they have been betrayed by players who seek first to fatten their pockets and only then to do the work necessary to achieve world standards – even if then. In their reckless zeal in pursuit of fortune, if not fame, the players, fronted by Mr Ramnarine and his old-style trade union advisers, seem bent on confrontational bickering.It is in this context that we wish to draw Mr Ramnarine’s attention to outgoing WICB president, Ken Gordon’s charge that his abusive and threatening attitude has only served to stymie attempts to have the two bodies work together for the good of West Indian cricket.Mr Gordon has suggested to the WIPA president that the latter should engage in some honest self-analysis of his own style rather than seek comfort in the view that it is the style of everybody else which is wrong. The least Mr Ramnarine could now do is to consider, in a spirit of humility, whether Mr Gordon’s assessment has any merit or whether he just happens to be always right.

Bermuda’s national coach Gus Logie has a threadbare squad of just 12 players at his disposal as Bermuda prepares to begin the post World Cup era against Denmark.Practically everyone that travelled to Europe this week is guaranteed a game over the next few weeks with Bermuda’s thin resources stretched to the limit. Just four of the World Cup squad – skipper Irving Romaine, new vice-captain Stephen Outerbridge, big hitter Lionel Cann and spinner Dwayne Leverock – boarded the plane on Monday night with a host of new faces being asked to fill the enormous void left by the likes of Janeiro Tucker, Clay Smith, OJ Pitcher and Kevin Hurdle.The middle order – Bermuda’s strength over the past few years – has been completely decimated. As well as Tucker, Smith and Pitcher there will be no David Hemp, no Dean Minors and no Kwame Tucker. A squad of up and coming youngsters and international novices will take their place.Ironically most of the youngsters – the likes of Edness, Robinson and Arthur Pitcher – have played for Bermuda before. It is club veterans like Roderick Masters, Dwight Basden and James Celestine who will be making their international debuts on this tour.Coach Logie admitted the team was in a rebuilding stage and said the tour would be a test of how quickly the new boys could adapt to the enormous jump in class from domestic cricket.”Any time you go out to play you play to win, but we also have to be realistic and realize that this is a rebuilding stage. We are looking at development of our younger players and exposure for certain players to a higher level of cricket. It’s about understanding what it takes to play at that level.”The opening games against Denmark are not full one-day-internationals because the Danes did not qualify for the World Cup and ODI status. But Logie expects them, along with Holland and Ireland who Bermuda face later in the tour, to be among their biggest rivals for re-qualification at the ICC Trophy 2009 in Malaysia.”We played them a few years ago and narrowly beat them, but they have grown in stature and the game has taken off a bit in Denmark. Many of their players have exposure to the English county cricket set up. They, Holland and Ireland are going to be three of our arch rivals in 2009 and we need to learn as much from this tour as we possibly can.”There will be new roles for some of the players on this tour with Lionel Cann, traditionally used as a late-order finisher, likely to be asked to become the mainstay of the batting line-up along with Romaine. “We don’t have the same depth in the middle order anymore and the chances are Lionel will be asked to bat higher up and play a more integral role. Players like Lionel and the captain Irving Romaine will need to play a central role.”The return of seamer George O’Brien gives the bowling attack an injection of pace and aggression while Jacobi Robinson, Arthur Pitcher and Ryan Steede will play a supporting role. Dwayne Leverock will again be the centre-piece of Bermuda’s bowling attack with his economical left-arm spin.Logie said the new boys had shown commitment in practice. Now it was time to see what they could do on the big stage. “This is an opportunity to assess certain players and see how they gel as a team. We can practice as much as we want but you have to think that those things we did in training can be done in game situations.”Preparation for the tour has been far from ideal with Azeem Pticher, Kevin Hurdle and Maurice Lowe all pulling out for work and personal reasons and Greg Maybury being called-up to the Under-19 qualifiers. The search for available replacements saw Robinson and Basden called up. But further back-up was not available.”We have a lot of players playing the game but for whatever reason not everybody is in line for selection for the national team.”He added that the passion for the game shown at Cup Match was not so evident when it came to the national team. “Players can want to train, want to play with passion at the local level. If that can be transferred to the national team they can reap just as good rewards.”One fillip for Logie will be the arrival of three stars from Bermuda’s Under-19 team ahead of the game against Ireland. Seamers Stefan Kelly and Malachi Jones and spinner Rodney Trott will jet in from Canada after representing the U-19s in the World Cup qualifiers. “These are the guys we are looking at to carry the flag in the near future. We want to wish them all the best in Canada where we trust they will qualify for the World Cup.”Reproduced with permission of the Bermuda Sun

Lancashire’s Katie Cross has won the Eversheds Most Promising Young Cricketer award. The accolade is decided by England selectors and coaches – and Cricinfo understands their decision was unanimous.Cross, a 15-year-old pace bowler, was the first female on the Lancashire Academy and becomes the sixth recipient of the award which was introduced in 2002 to sit alongside the male winners. She joins Sarah Taylor, Jenny Gunn, Katherine Brunt, Kathryn Doherty and Sophie Le Marchand on the list of recipients.She has already played for England Under-21s, at the European Championships in Netherlands this summer, and she has been tipped for the senior side by no less than the ECB’s executive director for women’s cricket, Gill McConway.”Katie is a very exciting young prospect,” McConway said. “She will train with the England senior side this winter and her progression into that side will not be too far away if she continues to produce eye-catching performances.”Cross, who plays for Heywood CC, broke into the England Development side this summer and put in some highly impressive performances in the County Championships and for the Sapphires in the Super 4s. She first played aged eight, and went on to represent Lancashire under-13, under-15 and under-17, finally making her debut for the senior side – still aged 13.She will collect the award on November 2 at the Royal Overseas League in London.