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India and Bangladesh, two of the co-hosts, will contest the opening game of the 2011 World Cup in Mirpur on February 19. The fixtures were announced at an ICC event in Mumbai on Monday.The first game in Sri Lanka will feature the hosts taking on Canada in Hambantota, a new venue, on February 20. Pakistan, who lost their share of World Cup matches due to the security situation in the country, are playing all six of their group matches in Sri Lanka, which is hosting a total of 12 games.The tournament in India, which is hosting 29 matches in all, will kick off with New Zealand playing Kenya in Chennai on February 20. India’s first home game is against England in Kolkata on February 27 and they will also play their four remaining group games at home. Defending champions Australia begin their campaign against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad on February 21.The quarter-finals will be played in Dhaka on March 23 and 25, in Colombo on March 24 and in Ahmedabad on March 26 while the two semi-finals will be played in Colombo and Mohali on March 29 and 30. The renovated Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai will host the final on April 2.”This announcement is an important indicator of the excellent progress we are making towards our flagship event which brings together teams from all our Members in nation-versus-nation action,” ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in Mumbai. “Preparation of venues and safety and security planning continues and I am confident that the host countries will showcase our great sport with its great spirit in the best possible light.”A total of 13 venues will be used over the 43-day tournament, which is a week shorter than the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies. The ten Full Member countries and four Associates have been divided into two groups of seven each, with the top four from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals. Group A includes Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya. Group B comprises India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands..

Match facts

Friday October 16
Start time 20.00 (14.30 GMT)

Big picture

The table headers from two groups, New South Wales and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), get a head start in their league stage campaign, having secured carry-forward points from the opening round. Unlike the popular game show , these points matter.New South Wales look the strongest team of the tournament, on paper, and in their performances so far, they have lived up to that billing. They didn’t have the best of conditions at the Feroz Shah Kotla, but their top order showed good application in both games. More importantly, they judged the pitch well and gauged what a good target was. A score of 144 was more than enough for the Eagles, who fell short by 53 runs. They had to work even harder to grind out 130 against Sussex, but for the second game in succession, their bowlers managed to restrict the opposition to a score below 100. The top order looks in fine shape, with Simon Katich, Phillip Hughes and Moises Henriques in good nick – the lower order hasn’t even been tested so far. In Delhi, the batsmen played a lot of horizontal bat shots which were often mistimed because the ball didn’t always come on to the bat. They will prefer the conditions In Hyderabad.Their opponents, T&T, have been more attractive and daring to watch. After trampling over Somerset, they ousted Deccan Chargers in front of their home crowd in a much closer contest in Hyderabad. They have played like they are out there to enjoy themselves and it has come out in the fearlessness of their strokeplay, ability to break partnerships and enthusiasm in the field: like Kieron Pollard’s athletic catch in the deep to get rid of Adam Gilchrist, a turning point in the Deccan match. Their prior exposure at the venue gives them an advantage. But they will still be tested by a world-class bowling attack.

Watch out for…

Dwayne Bravo: The most celebrated cricketer in the T&T line-up has been a roaring hit with the ball, taking 4 for 23 to sink Somerset in Bangalore and three more against Deccan. In both games, he did not concede more than six an over. The second game was more noteworthy because it was anybody’s game before the final over, with Deccan needing eight. Bravo held his nerve, landed it on the blockhole, took two wickets and conceded only four runs.Moises Henriques will be Bravo’s direct counterpart. The allrounder has featured prominently in both of NSW’s games, coming in at No.4 and bowling economically while picking up five wickets. He infused life with some big hits, chipping down the track to take on the bowling. On the slow pitches, he certainly looked more at home than the rest.Denesh Ramdin and Kieron Pollard: T&T will count on this pair to give the innings a push in the middle overs. Ramdin made a run-a-ball 39 to lift the team to 150 against Somerset and Pollard’s 14-ball 31 was the most crucial contribution in their win against Deccan. While Ramdin is good at nudging the singles, Pollard can be counted upon for the big hits.

The ECB has got a big thumbs down from professional cricketers in the country after a poll conducted by the revealed that only 11% of them had confidence in the Giles Clarke-led board. Many felt that the recent decisions and actions taken by the ECB, like its alliance with Sir Allen Stanford, were more commercially driven and not in the best interests of the game.Vikram Solanki, the England batsman and chairman of the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), has said the organisation is planning to start a new wing known as the Professional Game Board, which will facilitate easier communication with the ECB.Players are also reportedly unhappy with the ECB’s move to scrap the domestic 50-over competition and replace it with a 40-over tournament for the sake of drawing crowds. A massive 83% want the Friends Provident Trophy to be restored, more so in the current scenario with England losing four consecutive ODIs and the series to Australia. Voices from across the globe have suggested measures to tweak the 50-over game, from reducing the volume of matches to splitting the game into four batches of 25 overs.”It is obvious that the demands of trying to govern the whole gamut of our sport from the England team down to the smallest grassroots operation is too much for the current structure and personnel,” Solanki told the . “The PCA propose the formation of a powerful and genuinely representative Professional Game Board to act as the consultation body for all decisions affecting the professional game, so that confidence in the governance of our sport can be restored among all stakeholders.”In the interim, the PCA would encourage the ECB to consult more widely and in good time and with an open mind about the vital issues facing our game and to swing the balance back towards cricket, rather than taking a purely commercial approach to every decision.”The PCA claims that the players were also not consulted about a second Twenty20 tournament, England’s answer to the IPL. The competition was planned for three weeks in June 2010 but was ditched earlier this year due to funding issues.The PCA has also termed the ECB’s alliance with Stanford – now arrested on charges of fraud – as “ill-advised, embarrassing and damaging to English cricket”.”Without losing sight of the difficulty of finding the correct balance,” Solanki said, “the PCA are concerned that recent decisions and processes have not been in the best long-term interest of English cricket, but have been made for short-term economic gain and to cover deficiencies in the ECB’s ability to operate effectively at the top table at the ICC.”

Cricket Namibia and mobile operator MTC have extended their sponsorship deal with a three-year agreement that will fetch the board an annual N$2.5 million (US$ 332,153).The deal will cover the costs of the Namibian senior team participating in the amateur tournament organized by Cricket South Africa, development of grassroots cricket in the country, infrastructure development, the national First & Premier leagues, the national team coach and payments to the national players.Cricket Namibia president Francois Erasmus said MTC had played a key role in the development of the game in the Associate country over the past six years. “This has lifted the standard and profile of the game in Namibia through the ever-increasing number of players participating in cricket throughout the country,” he said. “Club cricket has also been a major benefactor and, as proof of this, there will be four additional teams playing the national cricket leagues during 2009-10.”Namibia featured in the 2003 World Cup but with little success. They also finished eighth in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers held in April this year, which should have been enough to secure them a place in the 2009-10 Intercontinental Cup. However, at an ICC development committee meeting the following month, the competition was restructured and Namibia, who finished runners-up in the 2007-08 event, were demoted to a four-team second division known as the Intercontinental Shield.

Tillakaratne Dilshan has said he enjoyed the role of opener after hitting a blistering 92 off 72 balls, the fastest Test fifty scored by a Sri Lankan, on the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand in Galle.Opening the batting in a Test for the first time Dilshan helped Sri Lanka recover from 16 for 2 to an imposing 293 for 3 by stumps. Dilshan reached his half-century off 30 balls, one ball quicker than Arjuna Ranatunga who had done so against India at Kanpur in 1986-87.”I was under a little bit of pressure after two early wickets went, but I knew if I played positively I could reverse the trend and put the pressure back on the opposition. I did that by playing my own game,” Dilshan said. “It’s much easier batting as opener as there is no pressure on me. It’s not easy to bat at No. 6 and 7 because I am the last recognised batsman and I cannot play my shots but I have to play according to the situation. But opening I can go for my shots from the beginning. It’s a new ball and the field is also up and runs come quickly.”I didn’t know until I came to the dressing room that I had broken a Sri Lankan batting record for the fastest Test fifty,” he said. “I am proud to take the record off Arjuna Ranatunga and get my name in the record books. But I am really disappointed I couldn’t get to my ninth Test hundred.”In past two years I am batting well and I have been in good form. I want to carry on the form,” he said. “The change came after I was promoted to open the batting in one-dayers. My career has changed for the better.”New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin, who gave his team a great start with two early wickets, admitted that it was difficult to bowl to a batsman in an aggressive frame of mind like Dilshan in the morning.”It is not often you run in and bowl to a guy like that in Tests and find that he is driving you through the covers and hitting you over the top,” Martin said. “It was a tough experience. You can be hero to zero but today he was the hero. Dilshan’s innings put us under pressure early and it took a while for us to recover.”When Mahela came in he could just relax and get his innings together and the run rate was pretty good,” Martin said. “Mahela plays with very soft hands and he waits for anything on length to hit through the covers. He just played a very nice innings and put the pressure back on us. I think he outplayed us today and that was a good hundred.”The discipline of the Sri Lankan batsmen showed pretty true on a reasonable deck. If we could get a couple of early wickets when the ball swings then you’ve done well. Then it’s a matter of discipline the way they played today.”Martin said the decision to bowl first was because it was humid enough for the ball to swing and that New Zealand had banked on their experienced bowlers to trouble Sri Lanka early.”Even though the ball was swinging a little it didn’t quite do the job for us. It’s a toss that some captain’s wouldn’t mind losing,” Martin said. “It’s a very difficult decision. Whatever you choose to do you have to do well. Today it was a reflection we didn’t do quite well enough.”

Mitchell Johnson has found the unlikeliest of allies as he attempts to retain his place in the Australian line-up for the Edgbaston Test. James Anderson, the spearhead of the England attack, expressed supreme confidence that his opposite number would not only play in the third Test, but emerge from his extended form slump to again trouble England’s batsmen.”If I’d have had 18 months like he had, then two bad games, I would not expect to get dropped for the next game,” Anderson said. “As a bowler, you do go through varying bits of forms. The last 18 months he’s been the best bowler by a country mile for Australia and all their success has pretty much centred around him. For him to have a couple of bad Tests and for people to be getting on his back is a bit harsh. He’s just going through a bit of a dodgy patch, and I think he’s a good enough bowler to come through the other side.”Johnson’s demoralising outing against Northamptonshire, in which he managed a solitary tailend wicket and conceded runs at almost six-per-over, has prompted speculation that he could be demoted from the Australian XI to accommodate the dependable Stuart Clark at Edgbaston. Such a move would hand Australia the unenviable task of overhauling their bowling blueprints mid-series, given that much of their planning had centred on Johnson thriving in the role of attack spearhead.In four first-class matches on tour, Johnson has taken 12 wickets at an average of 50.33 with an economy rate of 4.44. His dismissal of David Wigley to close out the three-day match against Northam ended a 35-over wicketless streak that extended back to the first innings at Lord’s, and his general inaccuracy has made it difficult for the Australians to build pressure in the field.Still, despite Johnson’s struggles, Ravi Bopara is expecting the left-armer to play at Edgbaston from Thursday. Bopara is acutely aware of Johnson’s latent potential, having fallen to him in the first innings at Cardiff, and, like Anderson, believes the Australian paceman will turn his form around.”He’s proven himself at international cricket,” Bopara said. “He’s done it against South Africa, who are No. 2 in the world. For us, yes it is good that he hasn’t quite done as well as he probably started off in South Africa. But good cricketers always bounce back.”Personally, I’m budgeting on him being there. He’s a strike bowler. If he’s not, he’s not. I’m not going to look too far into it. The game doesn’t start until Thursday. I’ll worry about it at 10.58am.”Bopara added that England had not discussed Johnson’s negative body language, which has been so down at times that Tim Nielsen, the Australian coach, felt compelled to address it after the Lord’s Test. “It’s a natural thing in cricket,” Bopara said. “If things ain’t going your way, it’s very hard to stay upbeat. You’re just kidding yourself really. We’ve played enough cricket to know if the other team are going really well it’s going to be difficult to keep jumping around and buzzing around. That’s just the way it is.”The Australians have rallied around Johnson in the aftermath of the Lord’s Test, deflecting media and public criticism at every opportunity. Brad Haddin is the latest to offer his backing to his out-of-form team-mate, noting that Johnson was still pounding the gloves on tour.”He’s had a very successful two years, his bowling was outstanding in South Africa,” Haddin said. “He is still taking wickets for us and in his game he still feels pretty comfortable so I don’t see that much of a difference. Obviously it was different conditions in South Africa that allowed the ball to swing a bit more and we’re using different balls here that are probably starting to swing a bit later. From where I’m standing his pace is still up and it’s all pretty good.”

Australia’s state cricketers are in for a rapid lesson in handling world-class spin after Sri Lanka’s mystery tweaker Ajantha Mendis signed for South Australia in next season’s Twenty20 competition. But the Redbacks players will be equally tested on the field with the news that Victoria are close to securing Mendis’ record-holding team-mate Muttiah Muralitharan.Mendis was South Australia’s No. 1 target and his success in confusing Australia’s top batsmen in the World Twenty20 only enhanced his reputation. Part of his power is the mystery nature of his deliveries but his manager Roshan Abeysinghe hoped that in the shortest format Mendis would not give away too many of his secrets.”The mystery can be found out anyway with technology but it can’t be mastered like facing him in a match,” Abeysinghe told Cricinfo. “We are concerned about it. We don’t want him to be overexposed at any cost but maybe the Twenty20 is fine, where he can only bowl four overs at the most.”Part of the attraction for Mendis was the chance to gain experience in unfamiliar conditions. Although Adelaide is one of the more spin-friendly surfaces in Australia, it will be a vast change from the subcontinental pitches on which Mendis has played most of his cricket.”He is very excited at the opportunity because it’s extra exposure for him and a learning opportunity to bowl on Australian tracks,” Abeysinghe said. “He hasn’t played in Australia so it will be a great opportunity and a chance to learn a different style because he has played a lot of cricket on the subcontinent.”Like his Sri Lankan colleague Lasith Malinga, who has agreed to play for Tasmania, Mendis’ participation is dependent on Sri Lanka’s schedule being clear when the Big Bash is held. Jamie Cox, South Australia’s high-performance manager, said Mendis would be a terrific addition to the Redbacks.”Mendis is a proven Twenty20 player famous for his unique bowling style that routinely confounds batsmen,” Cox said. “With three home games and one in Sydney and with the importance of quality slow bowling highlighted at the recent World Twenty20, we believe this gives our playing group a massive boost in their quest to qualify for the Champions League.”Mendis follows Malinga and the West Indians Chris Gayle (Western Australia) and Dwayne Bravo (Victoria) in joining the Australian domestic scene for the Twenty20 tournament. Each state is allowed to sign two international players and Victoria are keen on Muralitharan, whose manager Kushil Gunasekera said a deal was likely to be struck.”It is a matter of fine-tuning some of the terms and conditions,” Gunasekera said. “Both parties have mutually consented that they would go ahead and make this contract materialise but the contract has not been signed yet. It looks like it will happen. Cricket Victoria is interested in Murali and Murali is keen to play for them.”The prospect of Muralitharan returning to Melbourne, where he was no-balled for throwing 14 years ago, is an intriguing one. Gunasekera said Muralitharan was looking forward to the possibility of heading back to the MCG to erase the negative memories and believed his presence would help Australia’s disappointing spin situation.”It would be really good for him to go back to Australia and play cricket for Victoria and erase the past,” Gunasekera said. “Unless you have forgotten the past you can never look ahead to a brighter future.”I’m sure it would work well for him and Australia both. It might well add Murali’s expertise in resurrecting some of the spin bowling in Australia. That will also work well for them. It might create a lot of goodwill by Murali going back to Victoria to play cricket there.”New South Wales have expressed their interest in attracting the Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara for the Big Bash, while Queensland are believed to be using their former player and current West Indies batsman Brendan Nash to sound out potential signings from the Caribbean. The teams have until Christmas Eve to confirm their Twenty20 lists.

Mitchell Johnson sees a day when he is good enough to bat in the top six. Johnson’s batting has developed at a pace as rapid as his bowling this year and it peaked when he posted 96 not out and 123 not out during the Test series against South Africa.If he continues his impressive output with bat and ball he could be the key man in Australia’s Ashes defence. He rose to No. 8 in the order in South Africa – Brett Lee was missing with injury – and would happily slot in at six or seven if required.”At the moment I think if I keep going the way I am and keep scoring runs you just never know,” Johnson said in the Sunday Telegraph. “That’s something I can work forward to. It all just depends on what the captain and the selectors want.”I’d happily put my hand up [to bat in the top six], but I’m not going to put pressure on myself to be a batting allrounder. Bowling is still No. 1 for me so that’s going to be my main goal.”Johnson’s first duties in England will be in the World Twenty20 and it will be important for him to acclimatise ahead of the opening Ashes Test in July. It is 10 years since Johnson’s only visit to England.”I played a few games over there and quite enjoyed it,” he said. “They’re different conditions to what they are here. The English conditions favour swing bowling and the ball nipping around a bit. The ball just does a little bit more.”

Brett Lee and Stuart Clark will have to wait until the first two tour gamesto secure their spots in the bowling pecking order for the Ashes. Both menare coming back after lengthy injuries and must leapfrog a couple of theincumbents to win places in the opening Test of the series in Cardiff on July8.Mitchell Johnson grew into the attack leader in Lee’s absence and was backedup by Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus, who are both expected to suit Englishconditions, during the strong 2-1 victory in South Africa. “Where Stuart andBrett are in the pecking order, we don’t know at the moment,” the captainRicky Ponting said. “Lee is a bit of an unknown [after ankle surgery]. Thefirst two games before the first Test will tell us.”Australia are already talking about playing more than 11 in the lead-upmatches in Hove and Worcester to give all five of their frontline weapons achance to impress, as well as testing the fitness of the allrounder ShaneWatson. In 2005 there was only one first-class affair after the one-dayseries and the lack of lead-up time led to Jason Gillespie and MichaelKasprowicz struggling without the extra work.Another factor both Ponting and Michael Clarke spoke of during the team campon the Sunshine Coast was the time it takes for visiting players to get usedto the Duke balls used in England. “Our guys will get a great opportunity touse their [England’s] cricket ball for a few weeks leading into the firstTest,” Ponting said. “That was probably what brought us undone last time,their ability to use their ball well and we were a little off the boil withit.”Reverse-swing was one of England’s major strengths when they endedAustralia’s 16-year hold on the urn, but Clarke was confident the currentbatsmen would be able to negotiate the tricks this time. “Our knowledge,certainly of the guys who have been there before, is a little bit moreeducated than what it was four years ago,” he said. “Generally the differencewith the English ball and the Kookaburra [which is used in Australia] is ourball swings from the start.”It doesn’t swing as early in England, then it starts to swing a bit later.Reverse-swing is as big a part as natural swing over there. It sounds likethey are having a pretty good summer with weather, that being the case itwill probably be pretty dry and we’ll have to combat reverse-swing as well.”Australia could not get the ball moving as easily as England’s bowlers andthat trend was repeated in India last year despite the acquisition of TroyCooley, the bowling coach behind the 2005 success. Tim Nielsen, the currentcoach, believes he has a complementary attack that can be relied on in allconditions.

Days after serving the ICC with a legal notice over its decision to remove Pakistan as 2011 World Cup co-hosts, the PCB has ratcheted up the stakes in its confrontation further, sending a letter to Michael Beloff, president of the ICC Disputes Resolution Committee, to refer the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).”The Pakistan Cricket Board…has now sent a letter to Hon Michael Beloff QC, President of ICC Disputes Resolution Committee, to refer the matter to arbitration tribunal appointed in accordance with the rules of Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) to be held in United Kingdom,” said a statement released by the board today.The board has challenged the removal as being in contravention of ICC Articles of Association and also to the Host Agreement of 2006, whereby the World Cup was awarded jointly to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, did not comment on the issue. “I believe it’s better for me to say less on it,” he told Cricinfo. “It is the subject of a dispute and we’ll have to deal with it.”The PCB said that “since the decision was taken by ICC executive board the PCB deems it appropriate that in the interest of justice, equity and fair play the matter should be adjudicated by CAS rather than the ICC disputes resolution committee.”The board has asked the ICC to expedite the matter. The letter to Beloff has been sent through Mark Gay of DLA Piper, who will be assisted by Taffazul Rizvi, the PCB’s legal advisor, the statement said.There is a feeling within the board that they have been targeted by certain members of the ICC, who have used the situation to their advantage. It is believed that Pakistan are willing to pursue the option of Abu Dhabi and Dubai as a ‘surrogate’ host for Pakistan’s matches, though no official proposal has yet been tabled.In its legal notice to cricket’s governing body earlier, the PCB called the decision to do so discriminatory and “legally flawed” after the ICC, at a recent board meeting in Dubai, decided to take away Pakistan’s share of the World Cup matches. The move came after terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team during their February-March tour, which was itself the first major bilateral contest in Pakistan since October 2007. A number of teams since then had refused to visit in the wake of an unsettled and increasingly violent domestic backdrop.