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South Africa have announced their provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup in the West Indies in March. Their convenor of selectors, Haroon Lorgat, has said that the selectors are very close to finalising the 15 names who will travel to the Carribean, but denied that colour would be an influence on selection.Lorgat said that although CSA had set the selectors a target of at least seven players of colour, the team would be selected on merit. “There are just a few nuts and bolts that we have to sort out,” he said. “I would suggest that 13 names are already established and we just need to finalise the last two places.”I would be over the moon if we could pick seven or more [players of colour], but we’re not picking on colour, we’re picking the best team.”There were no surprises in the provisional squad, which contains all but three of the current South Africam Test team – Paul Adams, Hashim Amla and Morne Morkel.The squad must be cut to 15 by February 13, and Gerald Majola, CEO of Cricket South Africa, said: “All these players have been involved in high level domestic or international competition, and have also been part of the high performance programme since last season.”The fruits of the franchise system in both the MTN and SuperSport competitions can now be seen, and there is going to be fierce competition for the final berths in the World Cup squad from outside the Proteas. This augurs well for sending a strong, well-balanced and well-prepared squad to meet the challenges of Caribbean conditions against the best in the world.”As part of the prepartaions a 14-man A-squad has been selected to tour Zimbabwe and play three one-day matches on January 25, 27 and 28.Provisional squad Loots Bosman, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Boeta Dippenaar, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Justin Kemp, Garnett Kruger, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Rudolph, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Roger Telemachus, Alfonso Thomas, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath, Morne van Wyk.Zimbabwe tour squad Robin Peterson (capt), Loots Bosman, Boeta Dippenaar, JP Duminy, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Alviro Petersen, Vernon Philander, Roger Telemachus, Alfonso Thomas, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath, Morne van Wyk

Friends Provident, the FTSE100 life and pensions company, has been unveiled as the new sponsor of England’s main domestic one-day competition, which is to be known as the Friends Provident Trophy. The deal, worth £2 million over three years, will run from 2007 until the end of the 2009 domestic season.John Perera, the ECB’s commercial director said: “We are delighted that Friends Provident has decided to sponsor the Trophy and extend their influence in cricket. Friends Provident has been a supporter of cricket through their partnership with the Test-match grounds for some time now and I am pleased that they have become a major domestic competition sponsor.”The new sponsors take over from the building society, Cheltenham & Gloucester, who put their name to the trophy for seven seasons from 2000 to 2006. “We are proud to be sponsoring such a prestigious competition,” said Simon Clamp, managing director, Marketing and UK Distribution, at Friends Provident. “This is a great opportunity to build on existing involvement with international cricket and we are looking forward to building a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the ECB.”As a fifty-over competition, it is the only domestic tournament that replicates the international one-day format and its importance is well-recognised by international players.”The Friends Provident Trophy gives us great experience for our one-day international matches,” said Jon Lewis, whose Gloucestershire side have dominated the competition since the start of the decade. “Coming as it does at the beginning of the season is brilliant because it means we get enough 50 overs games in ahead of the home international series.”The competition will be officially launched in April and the Friends Provident Trophy gets underway on Sunday April 22, with both semi-finals due to be held on Wednesday June 20. The final will be held at Lord’s on Saturday August 18.

Andrew Symonds faces a “make-or-break” week as he pushes to be fit for Australia’s third group game against South Africa on March 24, according to the coach John Buchanan. Symonds is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation from arm surgery – the physiotherapist Alex Kountouris even said he was an outside chance for the second match – but Buchanan said it was “hard to know” when the allrounder would return.”It could be a make-or-break week with the injury he’s got,” Buchanan told AAP. “He’s desperately trying to get out and do his work and be involved and obviously the team would like him to come through too. But right at the moment we’ve got 14 fit players and if Andrew comes right then we’ve got 15 and we’ve got a great asset there.”However, Buchanan was concerned Symonds’ extra workload could increase his risk of re-injuring the problem biceps. “Hopefully what he does next week just continues that road to getting him back on the field,” Buchanan said. Despite Australia’s improved performance in the five-wicket win over England, Symonds remains a crucial element as he offers versatile bowling as well as powerful batting and sharp fielding.Buchanan was confident Matthew Hayden, who has a broken toe, would fulfil his wish to play in the opening group game against Scotland on Wednesday. “I know he has set himself for Scotland so I think it would be unlikely that he wouldn’t be available anyway,” Buchanan said.The team is due in St Kitts on Monday after the opening ceremony in Jamaica and Buchanan said the side would be “hard to beat” when the tournament begins. “I don’t really buy into whether we are the best team in the world or the second-best team in the world or the team to beat,” Buchanan said. “We are going to be very hard to beat if we, one, get our strategy right and then, two, deliver that because we have got the playing potential and ability and skills to really execute our one-day game.”

Scorecard

Aaron Heal troubled Victoria with three wickets and gave Western Australia a good chance of taking first-innings points at Melbourne. The home side stumbled to 5 for 192 at stumps as Heal’s 3 for 35 left much work for Michael Klinger, who was on 8, and Andrew McDonald (11 not out).David Hussey and Nick Jewell each threatened a big score as the Bushrangers tried to overhaul the Warriors’ 8 for 372. Hussey was especially fluent, driving superbly and lifting Heal over long on for six. He fell for 58 when he flicked a Ben Edmondson half-volley to Marcus North, who took a spectacular one-handed catch at full stretch at midwicket.Hussey’s dismissal came at the tail end of a disappointing two sessions for Victoria, after Heal removed Lloyd Mash, Rob Quiney and Cameron White. Mash prodded to silly mid off, Quiney lazily drove back to the bowler and White played on with a poor attempt to punch through the off side.Jewell made a determined 141-ball 53 before he became the first victim for Danny McLauchlan, the left-arm fast bowler making his debut. Jewell, who was restricted by a sprained right ankle, miscued a pull that fell into the hands of Heal at mid on.Jewell sustained the injury when he took a terrific catch in the outfield shortly before Western Australia declared. Running back towards the boundary from mid off, Jewell made significant ground to take the high chance and landed just short of the rope with an army-roll but came up clearly in pain.His effort ended David Bandy’s innings of 53, as the Warriors comfortably added 108 to their overnight score. They finished just before lunch and no Victorian took more than two wickets as the Bushrangers once again struggled to finish off the tail, which has been a recurring problem all year.

Gloucestershire have signalled their interest in signing William Porterfield, the young Ireland opening batsman, for the coming season.Porterfield, 22, who is currently in the Caribbean for the World Cup, has been in useful form in the past few months. A pair of hundreds in the World Cricket League, followed by 84 in Ireland’s final match, has stabilised Ireland’s top-order. He has been less prolific in the World Cup, showing just a glimpse of form in his 31 against England last week, but enough to attract interest from Gloucestershire.”He is someone we’d love to get over and have a look at,” Tom Richardson, the club’s chief executive told , “but it’s quite early days.”With Ed Joyce paving the way, a number of Ireland’s promising prospects have crossed the Irish Sea in the past 12 months. Niall O’Brien, the wicketkeeper, has left Kent for Northamptonshire; Boyd Rankin, their 6ft 8ins fast bowler, has a contract with Derbyshire and Eoin Morgan, considered by many as Ireland’s most gifted batsman since Joyce, plays for Middlesex.

Shane Watson will know his immediate World Cup future when he tests his injured calf in a training session in the West Indies on Tuesday. Australia have been debating whether Watson could wait to return in a high-pressure semi-final, but the preferred option is for him to be ready for their last Super Eights game against New Zealand on Friday.After batting in the nets last week, Watson began running at the weekend and will need to prove he is on track during a bowling session in Grenada. Alex Kountouris, the team physiotherapist, said the goal was to have him ready for New Zealand.”There are always risks with someone coming back from a muscle injury,” he said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Playing him in a Super Eights game if we’re already through to the semi-final would represent a lower risk than playing him in a semi-final or final.”Australia are desperate to have Watson return as his all-round skills give the side greater balance. Ricky Ponting said the selectors would prefer Watson played before the semi-finals, but there was still the option to increase his practice load.”We can monitor him pretty closely in all the training that he does,” Ponting said in The Australian. “If he doesn’t for some reason come up for Friday, then we just have to make sure that if we think he is going to play in the semi, we have to push him as hard as we can in every training session leading into that game to know that he is 100% right.”

Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan fast bowler, is unlikely to take part in the Afro-Asia Cup in India next month, citing personal commitments. He added that he needs more time to recover fully from his knee injury, which ruled him out of the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi later this month.”I have some personal commitments in June, so it is unlikely that I will play, although these are international matches,” Shoaib was quoted as saying by Reuters. “I have informed the Pakistan Cricket Board about this.”Shoaib was included in the Asian one-day squad for the Afro Asia Cup earlier this week after he told Cricinfo ten days before the squad was announced that he was confident of recovering in time. However, he later stated that he needed more time to get his rhythm back and was hopeful of playing in the one-off Twenty20 international against the Africa XI which precedes the three-match series.”I have offered to play the Twenty20 match instead as it will give me a chance to bowl a few overs in competitive conditions,” he was quoted by PTI. “I am fit but I want to be super fit and make a permanent return to international cricket.”

Phil Jaques made a level-headed 59 from 50 balls to drive Worcestershire to a Twenty20 win over Justin Langer’s Somerset on Tuesday. The victory kept Worcestershire’s hopes of finals action alive after a tumultuous week in which their county ground at New Road flooded.Jaques led Worcestershire’s chase at Taunton after Langer’s 36-ball 45 set up a disappointing target of 149. Graeme Hick and Vikram Solanki fell quickly in the reply but with only 7.5 an over needed, Jaques played a sensible innings that featured only five boundaries.When he was run out by Langer the visitors still needed 27. Roger Sillence, who as well as being a Worcestershire allrounder has become a regular in Melbourne’s club cricket for South Melbourne, finished the task with 19 from 11 deliveries and confirmed the victory with two balls to spare.Somerset had relied on Langer to get them away to a strong start with Marcus Trescothick missing due to a groin injury, but Langer did not get enough support. Cameron White was bowled for 14 before James Hildreth helped Langer steady with 40.After the latest round of matches, Worcestershire are in third place on the Midlands Division table, with two preliminary games remaining before the finals. Somerset, who won the Twenty20 title in 2005, are on the bottom and out of the race.

A new coach for the Indian cricket team will be appointed after the Ireland and England tours, according to Niranjan Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).Speaking to rediff.com, Shah indicated that the BCCI were cautious following the rejection of the post by Graham Ford. The South African had been appointed as coach on Saturday following the BCCI’s selection panel interviews with Ford and former English spinner John Emburey.Shah felt that the team could manage on the tough tour to England without a coach. “The manager Chandu Borde is highly experienced, both as a player and as an administrator, to handle everything. Besides, we’re sending Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh as bowling and fielding coaches respectively with the squad. There are already many experienced players in the side and they too can always guide and help the younger members of the team.”He also dismissed the speculation in some television news channels that former Test cricketers Gundappa Vishwanath and S Venkataraghavan were prospective candidates for the position. “We have the utmost respect for Viswanath, Venkataraghavan and others, whose names have been discussed in certain sections of the media to coach India. But, frankly, we have never discussed their names and they are rumours only.”On whether the new coach would be an Indian, Shah said, “Whether an Indian or a foreigner will be appointed coach of India will be decided later on. Let me reiterate, we really want to be very, very careful now when it comes to appointing the coach of India.”Shah’s statements also suggested that the position was not going to be offered to Emburey. “We don’t want to appoint anyone, whether he is an Indian or a foreigner. Not even Emburey for that matter. Let the squad return from the twin tour [of Ireland and England]. Only then, the BCCI will take up the issue of the new coach. We have full confidence in Chandu Borde, Venkatesh Prasad, Robin Singh and, of course, Rahul Dravid and his team.”

New Zealand A skipped further ahead of their rivals when they maintained their unbeaten record in a rain-interrupted victory against Karnataka State Cricket Association XI at Buderim. The other match between Australian Academy and South Africa Emerging Players, who reached 2 for 32 at Caloundra, was abandoned after only 9.1 overs due to the wet weather, leaving New Zealand with a healthy advantage with three qualifying matches remaining.Karnataka once again struggled to post a satisfying score and were dismissed in the 48th over for 150, but two short rain breaks in the New Zealand innings reduced the match by four overs and the target to 142. James Marshall struck 54 off 64 balls before a damaging cameo of 16 off six deliveries from Warren McSkimming, who finished the match with a six.The four teams in the Emerging Players Tournament have a rest day on Monday before the matches switch from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane. New Zealand A have collected six wins to lead the competition while South Africa are second, the Academy third and Karnataka fourth.