Windies depend on seasoned trio at World Cup

Dogged by poor form and repeated squabbles with their cricket board over the last few years, West Indies are striving to rediscover the magic that won the Calypso charmers back-to-back World Cup titles in the 1970s.

Pooled in Group B, along with tournament co-hosts India and Bangladesh, England, South Africa, besides minnows Ireland and Netherlands, the Darren Sammy-led West Indies are a far cry from the all-conquering team of "Super Cat" Clive Lloyd.

Still a passage into the last eight, at the very least, remains within their grasp. However, for this to happen their top three batsmen - former skipper Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan - need to fire consistently.

The left-handed Gayle is capable of giving the Caribbeans the flying start. Sarwan and Chanderpaul - with their vast experience and ability to play spin well - should provide the solidity in the middle overs for players such as Dwayne Bravo and the hard-hitting Kieron Pollard to take advantage of.

Gayle, who a few years ago, waded into controversy by showing his disinterest in playing Test cricket, is cherishing the dream of taking the Cup back to where it belonged in the infancy of the championship.

"I'm looking forward to the tournament and the dream is to see the West Indies come out on top," he said during the team's open media session after arriving in Colombo.

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Afridi banking on Akhtar to lead bowling attack

Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi is banking on ageing fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar to come up trumps for his side in their bid to lift the World Cup trophy for the first time in nearly two decades.

Afridi said Akhtar is working hard on his fitness and hoping to give his best in what could be his last World Cup.

"Let me tell you that Shoaib Akhtar is working really, really hard because he wants to be at his best in the World Cup. In terms of fitness, Shoaib may be a bit down but he is totally committed and is improving day by day," Afridi said.

"I won't be surprised if he is back at his brilliant best at the World Cup," he said ahead of Pakistan's first warm-up game against Bangladesh at Mirpur tomorrow.

The sub-continental tracks are known to assist slow bowlers and Afridi said his side could go with an extra spinner in the World Cup, starting here on February 19.

"The playing conditions would be quite different to what we encountered during our tour of New Zealand. Here we can explore the idea of playing an extra specialist spinner," Afridi said.

Along with two specialist spinners in Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman in the 15-member squad, Pakistan can also rely on Afridi and all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez to add variety to their spin attack.

Afridi, however, rubbished the notion that Pakistan are going to the World Cup with a weakened pace attack and said his fast bowlers are capable of coming out with flying colours.

Pakistan's pace-attack, to be spearheaded by Akhtar, includes Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq and rookie pacer Junaid Khan, who replaced an unfit left-arm pacer Sohail Tanvir in the 15-member squad.

"Besides Akhtar, we have Umar Gul who is a valuable player and match winner. I don't think that there is any cause for concern. Our team is shaping up well and the boys are all highly motivated to give their best in the World Cup," he said.

Although Pakistan are going into the World Cup with a morale-boosting ODI series victory over New Zealand but the spot-fixing scandal has left them shaken.

However, a confident Afridi said that he had full faith on his teammates and the side would just need to click together.

"I have complete confidence in my boys because each and everyone of them is a match-winner. They need to click and I'm sure they will do that in the World Cup," he said.

Pakistan play England at Fatullah on Friday in their second warm-up game before starting their World Cup campaign against Kenya in Hambantota, Sri Lanka on February 23.

Strauss backs England to win World Cup

England captain Andrew Strauss has said his side has an excellent chance of winning the World Cup in the Indian sub-continent despite a 6-1 defeat to Australia in the recent One-day series.

Strauss said England were not tired despite playing for over three months at a stretch and his boys were now "motivated and excited" to play the International Cricket Council's showpiece event starting on Saturday.

"We have had a lot of very good one day cricket for the last 18 months or so. We did not play so well in Australia, which is disappointing to us. But we've got a solid squad, a settled side," Strauss said in the Bangladeshi capital.

"We really feel we can do very well in the tournament. We are excited about it," he said, adding: "We here to win it, obviously - no doubt about that. I think we feel like we have got excellent chance."

The English captain said triumph in last year's World Twenty-20 cricket has boosted the team's confidence even though the side has not won a World Cup despite appearing in three finals since the event begun in 1975.

"I think that the guys took a lot of confidence from the fact that we won the World Twenty-20. And so the guys know that they can do it on the big stage under pressure, which is an important hurdle to overcome as a side," he said.

"I think we got some pretty firm ideas on the type of cricket we want to play. But the batsmen need to get themselves in form."

Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad and Ajmal Shahzad, all members of the World Cup squad, plus Chris Tremlett, who is a reserve, missed all or part of the One-day series in Australia.

But Strauss said he'll have a fully-fit side ahead of their first World Cup fixture against the Netherlands in Nagpur on February 22. "Our injury situation is getting better every day. We don't have got any real long term concern for the players we have here," he said.

He said Eoin Morgan, ruled out with a broken finger would be missed as he was a "standout performer" for the side in recent series but his replacement Ravi Bopara can fill up the gap as he played in the Indian Premier League and knows the conditions in Sri Lanka.

England's collapse in the One-dayers took the shine off their Ashes triumph but Strauss said instead of being "tired" due to the gruelling schedule, the series had given some players to get fit.

"The conditions here are very different. I think we got a lot of in-built confidence from the cricket we played for the last 18 months, not just One-day cricket, but Test cricket as well," he added.

The 33-year-old batsman, who started his international career in Bangladesh, said any team which qualifies for the knock-out stage has the chance of winning the World Cup.

"So the first step along the route is to get through the group stages. Play some good consistent cricket during that group phase and then it's about handling the pressure," he said.

He said India and Sri Lanka - co-hosts along with Bangladesh - are the favourites. "I don't think there is a huge amount of expectation on our shoulders. I think most of the expectation falls on the shoulders of the Indian team, maybe Sri Lanka," he said.

Chawla will also have to contribute with bat: Dhoni

Piyush Chawla spun India to victory against Australia with four wickets in the warm-up game, but his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the leg-spinner will also have to perform with the bat if he wants to play a vital role in the World Cup.

Dhoni said it was heartening to see Chawla (4/31) bowl but reminded the leggie that he was included in the 15-member World Cup team as a spinning all-rounder.

"It was good to see Piyush (Chawla) among wickets but he needs to contribute with the bat as well. If he can contribute 15-20 runs with the bat it will be very helpful for the side," Dhoni said after India beat Australia by 38 runs in a warm-up game.

"But as a specialist spinner he has done really well," he said of Chawla, whose inclusion in the 15-member Indian World Cup squad was hotly debated.

Stating that there has been healthy competition in the team for places in the playing eleven, Dhoni said performance of the middle-order still remains a concern going into the mega event.

"It's a bit of headache whom to play and whom not to play with the kind of talent we have in the team but it is good for the team. We need a good start and the middle-order need to contribute," he insisted.

"The positive thing from the match is that only two batsmen contributed and we still scored 214 runs. The performances of spinners are also a positive that has come out," Dhoni said.

He also lauded right-arm pacer S Sreesanth for his fiery spell upfront. "It was good to see Sreesanth bowl really well," Dhoni said.

India ended on the winning side but Dhoni said the Chinnaswamy track it was not the ideal wicket for One-day cricket.

"It was a tough wicket to bat. Initially the ball was coming onto to the bat when the pacers were bowling but then it started to spin big. It is a dream wicket for Test cricket," he opined.

The Indian captain also informed that there was nothing to worry about Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan who did not play today as they are suffering from minor niggles.

"Sachin and Zaheer had very minor niggles, nothing serious. Sachin will probably play the next warm-up match (against New Zealand in Chennai on February 16) but Zaheer we will have to see. If he (Zaheer) is 100 per cent fit he will definitely play otherwise he won't because we want him for the first World Cup game," Dhoni said.

Australia crash to Indian spin in World Cup warm-up

World Cup 2011
Piyush Chawla spun India to a remarkable 38-run win over defending champions Australia in a high-profile World Cup warm-up match on Sunday.

The leg-spinner took 4-31 as Australia collapsed to 176 chasing a modest 215-run target, after being strongly placed at 118-1 in the day-night match before a sizeable crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Chawla, 22, also upstaged Australian paceman Brett Lee, who earlier gave a superb exhibition of fast bowling to rock India and finish with 3-35 off 10 impressive overs.

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, who missed a recent home one-day series against England due to a finger injury, top-scored with a solid 57 off 85 balls with four boundaries.

The tourists' chances receded sharply after the dismissal of their captain, stumped while attempting to slog-sweep off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (3-15), who brilliantly supported Chawla.

Ponting and Indian fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth exchanged words after an appeal for caught behind was turned down in early stages of the Australian skipper's knock.

There was no hint of collapse following fine knocks from openers Shane Watson (33) and Tim Paine (37). Paine added 51 for the opening wicket with Watson and 67 for the next with his captain.

But Chawla started the slide with Michael Clarke's dismissal for a duck as the tourists lost their last nine wickets for 58 runs, with spinners doing the maximum damage.

Lee was in the limelight in the first session, dismissing Suresh Raina (12), Harbhajan and Chawla in his second spell to prove he is bang in form for the World Cup, which starts February 19.

Lee was backed by John Hastings (2-24). Australia's only bowling concern was 25 runs they conceded in wides, with off-song paceman Mitchell Johnson giving away 10.

Hard-hitting opener Virender Sehwag gave a good account of himself in India's below-par batting performance, top-scoring with a 56-ball 54 with one six and eight fours.

He fell soon after reaching his half-century with a six over long-off, inside-edging off-spinner Jason Krejza's delivery on to his stumps. India, who rested batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar, struggled against pace.

Yusuf Pathan (32), Ravichandran Ashwin (25 not out) and Virat Kohli (21) were the only other batsmen to cross the 20-mark.

Play for India to win World Cup, not for Tendulkar: Waugh

Australia's cricket great Steve Waugh says Indian players should not be talking of winning the World Cup for Sachin Tendulkar because that's not the 'right attitude,' as the game is bigger than any individual.

'They should think of winning the World Cup for the team, most importantly for the country,' said Waugh on the sidelines of a event here Friday when asked what he thought of many Indian players parroting that they want to win the World Cup for Tendulkar.

'I don't think it is the right attitude. You cannot think of winning the World Cup for one player. The game is bigger than any individual. You have to win it for each other. I am sure that even Sachin Tendulkar will like to win it for the team and the country. Yes, if India win the World Cup it will cap off a brilliant career,' said the former Australia captain.

Waugh said Tendulkar would play a crucial role in the tournament. 'Tendulkar may not be the star of the tournament, but he is going to play a crucial for India. When you need to take control of the game or stop the opposition, he would play a major part. His inputs will be invaluable.'

Tendulkar, who will be playing in his sixth World Cup, came close to winning it in 2003 when India lost the final.

Tendulkar, an inspiration for every Indian: Dravid

Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid was on Thursday, all praise for star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, saying that he was an inspiration for every Indian. He said this at the launch of the book 'Sach', based on Tendulkar's life, written by sports journalist, Gautam Bhattacharya.
Also present at the ceremony were, captain of the Indian Cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Anil Kumble and Gary Kirsten, coach of the Indian team.