Sri Lanka miss chance to train at new venues

Sri Lanka have missed out on a home advantage
after being denied a chance to train at two new World Cup venues because of
construction delays, skipper Kumar Sangakkara has said.
   The Sri Lankans open their campaign against Canada at the new Mahinda
Rajapakse stadium in Hambantota on February 20, but delays in meeting building
deadlines meant the venue could not be used for training.
   Sri Lanka's hopes of getting a feel of the other new facility in Pallekele
in the central district of Kandy were also dashed due to similar problems.
   Sangakkara said the team had been looking forward to playing some games at
Pallekele and Hambantota a month in advance and were disappointed by the turn
of events.
   "We would love to train at all the grounds, but we also need to have the
proper facilities to train," Sangakkara told reporters late Sunday after
wrapping up a 2-0 one-day series win over the West Indies.
   "We need to have side (practice) wickets, gyms, all of these things
available at the venues, otherwise it is difficult.
   "But things are what they are, so we accepted the fact that we'll have to
go in and play World Cup matches on those grounds without knowing the
conditions too much."
   Pallekele and Hambantota are set to host five World Cup games while the
renovated R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will host seven.
   Sangakkara said the players were happy with the facilities in Colombo,
where the squad has played a few domestic matches in the past few weeks.
   "It's a bit too late now to go and work camps in Pallakele or Hambantota.
We have only got two weeks and we've got to prepare as well as we can in those
two weeks with the best of facilities and those facilities are here in Colombo.
"We are ready to play on the wickets we get and we can't, no matter how you
talk about it, change anything any more. They are what they are."
   Sri Lanka, 1996 winners and losing finalists of the 2007 World Cup, are
co-hosting the showpiece event with India and Bangladesh.
   Sangakkara was upbeat about playing most of their matches in Sri Lanka in
front of supportive home crowds.
   "The crowd will be there and we'll be playing at home, so at least we've
got two factors going for us," he said.
   Sri Lanka have been placed in Group A with defending champions Australia,
New Zealand, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya.
   The event begins in Dhaka on February 19.

World Cup advisory

The 2011 World Cup takes place in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from February 19-April 2 with 14 nations taking part in
the marathon six-week tournament.
             AFP Sport is filing a wide-ranging package of advancers profiling the
teams, players and issues involved. 
             Contact: David.James@afp.com
            
             We are about to move:
             Cricket-WC2011-NZL,PREVIEW
             WELLINGTON
             The enigma that is New Zealand cricket was highlighted when captain Daniel
Vettori said the batting responsibility lay with the top order and match-winner
Brendon McCullum was promptly moved down.
             600 words by Chris Foley
            
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             New Zealand's performance at the World Cup could well be the marker for the
legacy of Daniel Vettori's captaincy as the sun sinks on his four years of
leadership.
             450 words by Chris Foley
            
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             Elton Chigumbura, the third man in recent years to be appointed captain of
Zimbabwe while in his early twenties, projects a cheerful optimism about his
team's prospects in international cricket.
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Clouds gather for under pressure Ponting

Ricky Ponting has endured a troubled build-up
to his quest for a fourth consecutive World Cup crown and his third title as
Australia captain.
             Ponting earned the dubious distinction as the only Australian skipper to
fail to win the Ashes three times in the recent home Test series against
England amid calls for him to be replaced as captain.
             Complicating the issue was a broken little finger that forced the
36-year-old out of the fifth Sydney Ashes Test and also from the entire
seven-game one-day series against England, leaving him well short of match
fitness for the World Cup.
             Ponting only resumed training at the start of the month following surgery
after the Boxing Day Melbourne Test match.
             "I think I'm going to have that (pain) for a while to tell you the truth. I
don't think it's going to be one of those things that goes away altogether,"
Ponting said.
             In Ponting's absence, deputy Michael Clarke led the Australians to an
emphatic 6-1 ODI series victory over England to give the World Cup champions a
boost after the post-Ashes despondency.
             As captain Ponting is unbeaten in all his 22 matches in charge. 
             But given the scrutiny Ponting is now under in the wake of the Australia's
badly-received first Ashes series defeat at home for 24 years, only victory in
the World Cup might buy him more time as national captain.
             "I feel I am well equipped to bring on some young guys and we have got a
few of them in the side now," Ponting said.
             "I want to keep playing, I would love to keep leading the team, I still
think I've got a lot to offer in both those regards."
             Ponting said he wanted to be known for more than just being the Australian
captain who lost the Ashes three times.
             "The fact that I've lost those three series is disappointing for me," he
said.
             "Hopefully, I'm not only remembered as the guy who lost three Ashes series.
There's lots of other great things I've been lucky to be able to be part of as
a player throughout my career."
             A fit Ponting will give the Australians a boost in confidence heading into
the World Cup.
             He is tied with former teammate Glenn McGrath with the most World Cup
matches on 39, scoring 1,537 runs at 48.03.
             Ponting ranks as one of contemporary cricket's greatest batsmen, and ranks
second only to Sachin Tendulkar (1,796) for most World Cup career runs.
             Ponting said he is hoping that he be able to play in Australia's two
practice games before their opening World Cup match against Zimbabwe on
February 21.

Cricket: Injury-hit England set for gruelling World Cup

England may have won the Ashes and triumphed at
the 2010 World Twenty20 but even their fans may think twice about backing them
to win the World Cup after an injury-hit finale to their tour of Australia.
             Not only did they lose a seven-match one-day series 6-1, bad enough in
itself, they also ended the tour with injury worries regarding six members of
their 15-man squad.
             The most concerning was to left-handed batsman Eoin Morgan, who already in
his relatively brief England career has more than once demonstrated the happy
knack of being able to pace a run chase with a mixture of conventional
strokeplay and quirky reverse hits.
             But the former Ireland international is now in danger of missing the World
Cup completely after fracturing a finger in the fourth one-dayer against
Australia.
             Veteran all-rounder Paul Collingwood (back spasm), Yorkshire seamers Ajmal
Shahzad (hamstring) and Tim Bresnan (calf), key off-spinner Graeme Swann
(back/knee) and pace bowler Stuart Broad (abdominal strain) also had their tour
of Australia cut short by injury.
             "We're pretty confident the other guys are going to be fit, but Eoin Morgan
we are not sure of at this stage," said England captain Andrew Strauss of his
Middlesex team-mate.
             "It's a big loss for us potentially. He is particularly important in those
conditions as well, being able to clear the ropes in the manner that he does."
             England have just a three-day turnaround in between returning home and then
flying out to the sub-continent ahead of their World Cup opener against the
Netherlands -- a team they lost to in the 2009 World Twenty20 at Lord's -- on
February 22.
             "The first thing to ponder is who is fit and who is not fit," Strauss said.
             Since making the last of their three losing appearances in a World Cup
final in 1992, England have often struggled to find a top-order batsman capable
of exploiting the fielding restrictions in the first 15 overs.
             The tour of Australia did see Jonathan Trott come good in both the Tests
and one-dayers, including a fine innings of 137 in an England record total off
333 for six in the sixth ODI in Sydney.
             But the fact England still lost that match highlights worries about their
ability to bowl with sufficient accuracy.
             For all that one-day cricket was pioneered as a professional sport by the
county game in the 1960s, England have never won a World Cup.
             Both England players and administrators believe they are unlikely to do so
for as long as the World Cup follows an Ashes tour in Australia -- always
considered the ultimate challenge for an England cricketer.
             And it's hard to shake the view that while Test success is cherished in
England, one-day wins are treated as an optional extra.
             Australia, three-times successive World Cup champions, would be the first
to point out that playing in Ashes series ahead of the global showpiece need
not damage your prospects unduly.
             But then again, they have been at home and, for much of the time, have been
winning more often than not against their old rivals.
             Certainly, it is to avoid a clash with the 2015 World Cup in Australia and
New Zealand, that England have brought forward their next Ashes tour to 2013/14.
             "Our schedule is ridiculous going into this World Cup," said Kevin
Pietersen, arguably England's most talented batsman and a man they could do
with firing on all cylinders in Asia.
             "It has been for England teams for a very long time, and that's probably
why England have not done well in World Cups."

Cricket: Strauss looks to keep England show on the road

England captain Andrew Strauss will be in the
unusual position among rival Test-nation skippers at the World Cup in that his
major task of the season has already been accomplished.
             Overseeing a 3-1 Test series win in Australia would be an impressive
achievement for any touring captain but, for an England side starved of Ashes
success 'Down Under' since the victorious 1986/87 team captained by Mike
Gatting, it was a landmark victory.
             But the subsequent 6-1 one-day series loss in Australia that followed left
England fans with a sense of foreboding ahead of the World Cup, even if
conditions in the sub-continent will be very different.
             Typically, Strauss was restrained when asked if it would be better to play
the one-dayers before, and not after the Tests, saying: "Wherever possible I
think that's a better way of doing it."
             And he was rather more forthright about England's one-day shortcomings in
Australia. "We lost too many early wickets too often in the seven games.
             "We didn't play very smart cricket to be honest. It's something we need to
remedy very quickly."
             Strauss's polite demeanour, on and off the pitch, allied to his expensive
education at Radley, one of England's elite private schools, has often given
him the appearance of a throwback to the days when amateurs were routinely
enrusted to lead England teams.
             But appearances can be deceptive, with the left-handed opener's solid style
at the crease bearing little resemblance to the cavalier approach of another
former Radley old boy and ex-England captain, Ted Dexter.
             Nevertheless Strauss's method has served him well and he immediately
settled into international cricket with a century on Test debut, against New
Zealand, at his Lord's home ground in 2004.
             However, being best known as a square of the wicket player and not someone
who routinely lofted the ball down the ground, Strauss never looked quite so at
ease in limited overs cricket and was soon dropped from the one-day side.
             And he reinforced a perception for safe if unspectacular run-getting when
he quit Twenty20 internationals and opted out of England's victorious World
Twenty20 winning side in the Caribbean last year on the grounds his game was
not suited to the format.
             But the 33-year-old Strauss, whose steel as a player is not always visible
but is there just the same, has bristled at suggestions he is a 'stodgy' opener
and since 2010 has averaged nearly 47 in one-day internationals compared to a
career mark of just under 35.
             There were many who felt Strauss ought to have led England on the Ashes
tour of 2006/07 after he'd impressed, in his own self-deprecating words, as the
"stand-in for the stand-in" when both Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff were
injured in the preceding English season.
             But the honour was given to Flintoff for a series where England were
thrashed 5-0.
             However, probably no-one else but Strauss could have united the side after
the falling out between then coach Peter Moores and skipper Kevin Pietersen saw
both men lose their jobs.
             Fortunately, Strauss has enjoyed a much-better relationship with the
like-minded Andy Flower.
             Strauss though has been repeatedly criticised by the likes of former
Australia captain Ian Chappell, a noted tactician, for being an excessively
cautious when his side are in the field.
             But there's no-one England would rather have as their captain in the
sub-continent.

Watch out for World Cup minnows - Marsh

Australia Test great Rod Marsh on Monday warned
the major countries not to take the smaller cricketing nations lightly at this
month's World Cup.
             Marsh, 63, the Director of Coaching at the International Cricket Council's
Global Academy in Dubai, has worked with players from Ireland, Kenya, the
Netherlands and Canada extensively over the past two years in preparation for
the tournament from February 19.
             "I am not saying one of those teams will win the World Cup, but I am saying
they will give a very good account of themselves," Marsh told Australian
Associated Press from Dubai.
             "These guys have prepared probably better than most of the Test nations,
because they haven't had all the other competitions and distractions.
             "Australia and England, for example, have had the Ashes and a long one-day
series."
             Ireland reached the Super Eight stages in 2007 and Marsh believes they have
the talent to repeat that achievement this year.
             "Ireland are always well prepared, they have experienced players, most are
playing county cricket and they are in pretty good shape," he said.
             "They actually think they can win the tournament and not just compete,
which I think is fantastic."
             Batsmen from the ICC Associate nations have been using advanced batting and
bowling machines as they look to give themselves the best possible chance of
success at the tournament in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
             "We've strived to get them into a position where they know all about
batting on the subcontinent," Marsh said.
             "We identified that the biggest problem for these guys in the past was that
they didn't make enough runs.
             "There has been a heap of footage shown to them about how the top players
bat on the subcontinent and how they handle reverse swing. They cannot be any
better prepared."
             Marsh was in charge of the Australian youth academy between 1990 and 2001
before taking on a similar role with England for five years.
             He believes Australia are still the team to beat in the World Cup.
             "Australia are still the top one-day team and although I cannot possibly
pick a winner of the World Cup, they are still the team to beat because they
are the holders," he said.

Coach says Aussies ready for title defence

Australia cricket coach Tim Nielsen says his team is in good shape for their World Cup title defence despite injury
doubts over several key players.
             The Australians, aiming for a fourth straight title, wound up their
preparation for the tournament with a 57-run win over England in their final
one-day international in Perth on Sunday.
             It completed an emphatic 6-1 win over the tourists and Nielsen said the
taxing seven-match series had been ideal for his team ahead of the World Cup in
India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
             England were left to rue a lengthy injury list at the end of a series they
believed was too long and Australia have fitness concerns of their own, but
Nielsen said he was happy with how his team was placed.
             "We've had an excellent preparation," he said after the win in Perth on
Sunday.
             "The most pleasing thing about the seven games is we have had contributions
at different times from pretty well everyone in the squad.
             "Everyone has got the feeling their game is in pretty good order, everyone
is pretty clear with their roles. We are going in in pretty good shape."
             While Nielsen's confidence is up, there is still considerable doubt over
the final make-up of Australia's 15-man squad.
             Captain Ricky Ponting (finger), veteran batsman Mike Hussey (hamstring) and
first-choice spinner Nathan Hauritz (shoulder) all have to prove their fitness
for the World Cup, which starts on February 19, while reserve Shaun Marsh is
also sidelined by a hamstring strain.
             Nielsen admitted the injuries were an unwelcome distraction and said some
crucial decisions on player fitness would be made over the next 48 hours.
             But he was upbeat about Ponting's prospects, after the skipper came through
a batting session in Sydney on Friday.
             "He seems to be getting better every day and is at least where we would
like him to be, which is great," Nielsen said.
             "But he hasn't played any competitive cricket in a while, so that in itself
is a risk."
             Nielsen said Australia needed to be wary of the temptation to take injured
players into the six-week tournament.
             "We can't afford to just have 11 or 12 players in our first couple of
games. We need to have some coverage," he said.
             Australia, still the number one ranked side in ODIs despite their slide in
Test cricket, go into the tournament on a 23-match winning streak in World Cup
matches, having been undefeated at the last two tournaments.