Seven current players have been chosen in the 30-man squad that will be cut over the next week to reveal Australia’s greatest one-day team. The side, which will be picked after votes from the 163 Australians to play limited-overs internationals, will be announced at a function in Sydney next Tuesday that doubles as the farewell for the World Cup unit.The openers Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist have made the outfit alongside Michael Hussey, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds and Glenn McGrath while Ricky Ponting is one of eight captains in the list. Ian and Greg Chappell and Doug Walters, who appeared in the first one-day international in 1970-71, were also selected.Australia’s 30-man all-time one-day squad Terry Alderman, Michael Bevan, David Boon, Allan Border, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Simon Davis, Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie, Gary Gilmour, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Dean Jones, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Dennis Lillee, Damien Martyn, Greg Matthews, Craig McDermott, Glenn McGrath, Tom Moody, Simon O’Donnell, Ricky Ponting, Bruce Reid, Paul Reiffel, Andrew Symonds, Doug Walters, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh.

Tony Howard, the West Indies manager, has spoken boldly of his side’s chances in the World Cup ahead of their warm-up match against Kenya on Monday.”We have some quite detailed plans for the tournament and we plan to come hard,” he said. “We will think hard and play hard. We are in it to win it. We want it all. We want to win in front our home supporters. We are prepared to beat the best no matter what. We have no real doubts about our ability at this stage.”Few can forget Kenya’s remarkable win in the 1996 World Cup when they skittled the West Indies for just 93, recording their first one-day win. A decade on, Roger Harper – who made 17 batting at No.7 in that humbling match – is Kenya’s coach and remains cautiously optimistic over their chances.”Kenya is supposed to be the top associate country as far as cricket is concerned,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean anything unless you show it on the field and we have demonstrated this. I think winning the World Cricket League (WCL) meant a lot to this team, for Kenya as a whole, and we hope to do the same in the World Cup.”Kenya, buoyant after their impressive win in Nairobi three weeks ago, are also very familiar with Caribbean conditions. Three years ago, they were the invited overseas team for the West Indies domestic first-class championship, though they failed to win any of their seven matches.

Sri Lanka’s three-match ODI series against India scheduled for June will be finalised at the ICC board director’s meeting at Cape Town early next month where representatives of all countries including India will be present.The Sri Lankan board’s secretary K Mathivanan, who will represent Sri Lanka at the meeting, said he had got positive responses from both India and South Africa to postpone the Afro-Asia series scheduled for June to accommodate the Sri Lankan fixtures.”Everything is expected to be finalised when I meet up with the representatives of India and South Africa at the ICC meeting,” said Mathivanan. “India have a very tight schedule after the World Cup. They tour Bangladesh and then travel to Ireland for a three-match one-day international series against Australia as part of their commitment with Zee TV who are paying them handsomely to play several off-shore series,” he added.”The Afro-Asia series was sandwiched between these tours and there was no way they could have come to Sri Lanka unless it was postponed.”Sri Lanka are also scheduled to play in a triangular one-day series in Abu Dhabi towards the end of April where the participation fee for each team is expected to be in the region of US$ 500,000 to 750,000. Pakistan and South Africa are likely to be the other countries to participate.Sri Lanka have a busy schedule for the rest of the year with Bangladesh touring in June for a series of two Tests and three ODIs followed by the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September. England will then arrive for five ODIs in October and then return after Christmas for the second leg of their tour which will feature a series of three Tests. Sri Lanka will also have two legs on their tour of Australia which starts in November with two Tests. Their second leg commences in January when they go back for the one-day triangular series.

Jamaica’s deputy police commissioner Mark Shields on Wednesday denied media reports that a second autopsy would be performed on the body of Bob Woolmer. “I can assure you there is no post mortem, there is no planned second post mortem,” Shields was quoted by AFP.He added that any post mortem would only be announced in consultation with the Kingston coroner’s office. “If there was any question of a second post mortem it would be something that I would discuss with him and announce,” Shields said.Several newspapers carried claims that the first autopsy was not thorough, and some have gone as far as suggesting that there were enough inconsistencies to indicate that Woolmer might not have been murdered at all, but could have died after falling heavily against a bathroom sink.The forensic pathologist, Ere Seshiah, initally claimed that the results of the first autopsy had been “inconclusive”, and Shields conceded that this might become an issue in the event of a trial. “The jury may want a second post-mortem and if we arrest someone this week and charge them, the defence counsel will want a second.”Shields also said the quality of footage taken from the CCTV cameras in the hotel was better than expected. “There were some people in the footage that I’d met in the week after the murder of Bob Woolmer that I could clearly and easily identify,” Shields said.His priority was to locate and interview as many witnesses as possible. “We are working from the inside out – it is those that we know were close to Bob Woolmer, were associates of Bob Woolmer, people who were on the same floor or close to him from the time he returned to the hotel until the time he was murdered.”He also said that it was highly likely that people had left traces of DNA at the crime scene. “The reason we’re taking DNA samples from everybody is to exclude them,” he said.

The Indian board (BCCI) has set up a seven-member committee to select the next coach of the Indian team.A statement released by the BCCI today said the committee would meet at the earliest and give its recommendations to the board regarding the next coach or cricket manager for India. Dav Whatmore, the Bangladesh coach, has expressed an interest in coaching India and there are reports that Tom Moody, the Sri Lanka coach, is also being considered.Sharad Pawar, the board president, will head the committee which also includes former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S Venkataraghavan. N Srinivasan, BCCI treasurer, and MP Pandove, the joint secretary are also members of the committee while Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, will be its convenor.After Greg Chappell quit as India’s coach the board appointed Ravi Shastri as the side’s manager for the tour to Bangladesh in May. But Shastri has reportedly informed the board that he would not be able to continue as manager after the tour because of his media commitments.India will play three ODIs and two Tests between May 10 and May 29 in Bangladesh. In June they host the Afro-Asia Cup before heading off to England for three Tests and seven ODIs.

Adidas, the sports good manufacturer, has dragged Nike, its competitor, to court over the use of Sachin Tendulkar’s images in advertisement campaigns. Adidas petitioned the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) on Friday over the use of Tendulkar’s images for endorsements when he is not playing for India.An MRTPC bench headed by Justice OP Dwivedi accepted Adidas’s petition and sent notices to Nike India, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Tendulkar and Iconix, the firm that manages Tendulkar. The respondents have three weeks’ time to reply to the notices served to them.Adidas has alleged that Nike are violating Adidas’s exclusive personal endorsement agreement with Tendulkar. Adidas argued that Nike, who sponsor the Indian cricket team, have the right to use images of Tendulkar only when he is playing for the country.”Sachin Tendulkar is our brand ambassador since 1997 and… is in public perception not only in India but globally too… What is the basis of their right,” Shailendra K Kapoor, the counsel for Adidas argued before the commission. “Nike tried to indicate that Sachin’s brand name was with them, which is an unfair trade practice by them. We are the exclusive owner of that brand name globally.”Adidas also said it had previously sent Nike evidence of its exclusive endorsement rights with Tendulkar, and furnished a letter written by Tendulkar. In that letter Tendulkar states that he had signed an exclusive deal with Adidas and that Nike had no right to use him in their endorsements.”Personal endorsement right was never subject to Nike’s contract with BCCI for sponsorship of Indian Cricket squad… for that they would have to deal with the cricketers independently,” said the counsel for Adidas, indicating that they would seek compensation from Nike.When contacted, Nike did not wish to react to the story. “Nike has not been served with an official notice from the MRTPC regarding this matter. We are therefore not in a position to make any comment at this stage,” a Nike spokesperson told . “However, Nike believes its actions have been consistent with the rights granted by the BCCI.”

Ian Botham, one of the greatest cricketers of the modern era, has been knighted by the Queen in her Birthday Honours.As a player Botham was one of the rare breed who emptied bars whether he was bowling or batting as he almost always made something happen. Since retiring he has raised more than £10 million for Leukemia Research with 11 walks in the UK and Europe.”I’m delighted that I’ve been honoured, not only for myself but for the people that have helped me get there,” he told the Press Association. “My wife Kath organised most of the walks and this will be very much a family celebration.”I have been fortunate to go to the Palace on previous occasions and I’m excited about the prospect of going there. To go there under these circumstances will be a very proud moment, it’s very nice to be recognised for what we have all achieved.”Tom Cartwright had a lot to do with my career as did Brian Close, but there are two people who I am sad are not here to enjoy this. My father Les passed away 18 months ago and it would have been a proud moment for him and also Ian Wooldridge, who was another long-standing friend and would have been pleased to raise a glass tonight. There are a lot of other people out there who I hope will enjoy this moment with me.”Looking back to his early years when he was a young player starting out at Somerset with Sir Viv Richards, who was knighted in 1999, Botham smiled. “How many people would have thought that Viv and I would be here when we started out in his flat as teenagers and used to go across the road to Roy Marshall’s pub? They would make us feel very welcome and give us some tea because Viv and I were not the greatest in the cooking stakes.”Who would have thought that all these years later that those two young guys would be honoured like this?”

The National Selection Committee has announced a squad of 22 players for the training and fitness camps to be held in Quetta from July 10 to July 23, 2007. The camp in Quetta, second of the three camps organised to improve the players’ fitness levels, follows a disappointing tour of Scotland in which Pakistan’s both matches were rained off.The left-handed duo of Imran Farhat (opener) and Abdur Rehman (spinner) will join the squad as the only two new faces as 20 of the 22 players named were present in Abbottabad where the first camp was held.Talat Ali, the manager-cum-coach for the team’s tours to Abu Dhabi and Scotland, will be in charge of the camp while Haroon Rasheed, former Pakistan coach, and Aaqib Javed, coach of the National Cricket Academy, will serve as batting and bowling coaches respectively. With special emphasis on fielding, Mohtashim Rasheed, former first-class cricketer, has been appointed as fielding coach.The third and final camp is scheduled to take place in the coastal city of Karachi from July 25, 2007.Camp attendeesSalman Butt, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf, Yasir Hameed, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naved Latif, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Fawad Alam, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzak, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhter, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Iftikhar Anjum, Najaf Shah, Abdur Rehman

Shane Warne says he is keen to take part in the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which has already signed Brian Lara for its inaugural multi-million dollar Twenty20 tournament. Yet even as the buzz around the ICL grows, so does the confusion, with Warne’s manager denying reports that he had been signed on and one top ICL official – and former cricketer – contradicting another.”Playing cricket in India is always an experience,” Warne wrote in his column for the . “That is one reason why I am keen to take part in the new Twenty20 League in October and November. The organisers are ambitious and, if the whole package is right, then I’ll be out there.”Brian Lara has committed to it and I have been speaking to him and a few other players. I know that I will miss the game during the winter, having retired back home. This is ideal at roughly three weeks long. People the world over are turning to Twenty20 for a quick fix of cricket and they will love the spectacle in India.”On Thursday, Kapil Dev, the chairman of ICL’s executive board, told Warne and Glenn McGrath were “on the verge of signing” and that the news would be released within 24 hours. But Kapil was contradicted by the managers of both players who denied that the former Australian cricketers were close to joining the ICL.The ICL had met with disapproval from the BCCI and Warne’s manager, James Erksine, said that he would not be a part of it if there was going to be a conflict. Erksine said that he had spoken to Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland about the matter.”I asked him [Sutherland] politically what the situation is,” Erskine told the . “He tells me that the BCCI are going to be in a situation where they’re probably going to get upset by it. He wonders whether all the Indian players they say they’re going to pick will fly in the face of the BCCI. We will wait and see what the political fallout is before anyone puts pen to paper.”McGrath’s manager, Warren Craig, said that he had been contacted by the ICL earlier in the week to discuss matters but McGrath was also no closer to signing up.Dean Jones, one of the executive directors on the ICL board, said that Kapil’s comments were not accurate. “He [Kapil] hasn’t been briefed properly,” Jones said. “He’s firing from the hip. Everything’s fine. It’s just normal Indian press and a few guys not communicating. Discussions are still continuing.”The ICL is a Twenty20 series proposed to be held around October in India featuring six teams comprising four international players and two Indian stars, with the rest made up of younger players.

Laxmi Shukla, the Bengal allrounder, has confirmed he will not be signing up with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) and will remain with his state side.”I think I would have been out of place had I joined the ICL,” Shukla told the . “I belong to Bengal and this sense of belonging would have been missing had I joined the ICL. I have informed Kiran More of my decision.”Two days ago, the Kolkata-based had reported that Shukla was rethinking joining the ICL after the Indian board announced substantial hikes in the domestic pay packets. The paper said players close to Shukla had told him that backing out of the ICL now would undermine his credibility.But Shukla said he was too attached to Bengal to leave. “I feel a lot better now, having taken this decision. There was a lot of money at stake but what I earn by playing for Bengal is decent enough.”