West Indies won by 9 wickets against Bangladesh

West Indies took a massive stride towards the World Cup quarter-finals by pounding lackluster Bangladesh by 9 wickets in a key Group B match on Friday.

Lanky spinner Sulieman Benn grabbed 4-18, and fast bowlers Kemar Roach and skipper Darren Sammy claimed three each, to bowl out Bangladesh for their lowest ODI Cricket total of 58 in 18.5 overs.

The West Indies surpassed the small target in 12.2 overs even before the lights came on for the day-night game at the packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka.

Chris Gayle, who had been ill at the start of the game, remained unbeaten on 37 off 36 balls, while Darren Bravo was on nine after Devon Smith was bowled by off-spinner Naeem Islam for six.

With only their 2nd win in the last 11 one-day internationals, the West Indies have four points from three matches, the same as group leaders South Africa, who have played one match less.

Bangladesh, with one win from three games, was left with a mountain to climb to stay in contention for the quarter-finals.

The hosts must win their remaining league matches against England, South Africa and the Netherlands to ensure a place in the last eight.

Man of the Match: Kemar Roach

Kemar Roach hat-trick, Windies won by 215 runs

Kemar Roach taken six wickets, including a hat-trick, and Kieron Pollard cracked 60 off 27 balls to help West Indies thrash the Netherlands by 215 runs in the ICC World Cup on Monday.

Kieron Pollard built on the platform laid by Chris Gayle, who made 80, as West Indies posted 330-8 before bowling out their hapless opponents for 115 off 31.3 overs in the Group B game at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

The Caribbean’s total was the highest at the ground, which is coming off a 12-month suspension over a dangerous playing surface.

The Netherlands hardly posed any threat in the lop-sided encounter, crumbling to 36-5 by the 11th over after early strikes from Roach, who took 6-27, and left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn (3-28).

The 22-year old Roach then returned to collect only the 6th World Cup hat-trick and the first of this tournament, when he sent back Pieter Seelar, Bernard Loots and Berend Westdijk.

Dutch hope Ryan ten Doeschate, who scored 119 against England, failed to repeat his magic, trapped leg before wicket for seven by Benn. Tom Cooper provided the only resistance for Netherlands with an unbeaten 55 off 72 balls.

For the West Indies, Chris Gayle put on 100 runs for the opening wicket with Devon Smith (53) after the West Indies were put in to bat on a placid wicket in the day-night clash.

Kieron Pollard, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, hammered five fours and four sixes on his way to the third-fastest World Cup half-century before Ramnaresh Sarwan chipped in with a 42-ball 49.

South Africa crushes West Indies in style

Debutant leg-spinner Imran Tahir took four wickets and AB de Villiers struck 107 not out as South Africa coasted to a 7-wicket win over the West Indies in the World Cup 2011 on Thursday.

Tahir (4-41) and off-spinner Johan Botha (2-48) shared six wickets to help South Africa bowl out the West Indies for 222 off 47.3 overs before de Villiers slammed his 10th one-day century to seal the fate of their rivals.

JP Duminy (42*) hit the winning run as South Africa reached the target with 43 balls to spare in their opening day-night Group B clash at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

De Villiers put on 119 runs for the third wicket with skipper Graeme Smith (45) after South Africa had been reduced to 20-2 following the dismissal of Hashim Amla (14) and Jacques Kallis (4) in the space of five runs.

Man of the match: AB de Villiers

Pakistan have completed a huge victory against Kenya

Pakistan opened their World Cup campaign with a thrashing win over mediocre Kenya side by 205 runs in a group A match at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium.

For Kenya it is their 2nd following defeat in the mega-event after being demolished by New Zealand by 10 wickets in their tournament-opener on Sunday.

Pakistan will next play Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday.

Against Kenya, Pakistan produced superb all-round display to seal the match in easy circumstances. After piling up a mammoth 317/7 on the board, they dismissed the minnows for a paltry 112 in 33.1 overs.

Even though he failed with the bat, Captain Shahid Afridi (5/16) led from the front while defending the target. For Kenya only four batsmen reached double figures with Collins Obuya top-scoring with a gutsy 47 off 58 balls.

Apart from Afridi, pacer Umar Gul picked up two Kenyan wickets while giving away just 12 runs.

Earlier, Pakistan's middle-order came up with a superb batting display to guide the team to a massive 317/7 after opting to bat. Shrugging off a poor start, Kamran Akmal (55), Younis Khan (50), Misbah-ul-Haq (65) and Umar Akmal (71) chipped in with valuable half-centuries each to post a challenging total.

Praveen Kumar ruled out World Cup, replaced by Sreesanth

Praveen Kumar has been ruled out of the ICC World Cup 2011 after failing to recover from an elbow injury.

S. Sreesanth, who undergo a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy, was named as the replacement for Praveen Kumar.

"The ICC has confirmed that Praveen Kumar can be replaced in the squad by Sreesanth," BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan said in a statement.

Praveen Kumar, who returned early from the ODI series in South Africa to recover in time for the World Cup, went to England for further treatment but doctors took a final call on his fitness and ruled him out after the medical check-ups.

The Uttar Pradesh bowling-all rounder underwent a fitness test at the NCA but it seems the injury had not healed as fast as was expected, a BCCI source said.

ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 Squads

Group A	Group B
Australia	India
Pakistan	South Africa
New Zealand	England
Sri Lanka	West Indies
Zimbabwe	Bangladesh
Canada	Ireland
Kenya	Netherlands

India squad for ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

The much awaited Indian squad for the World Cup has been announced. The only major surprise has been the exclusion of Rohit Sharma and Inclusion of Piyush Chawla.

There is no back-up wicket keeper in case Dhoni suffers an injury. There was no place for S.Sreesanth - who impressed the South Africa test series, while the disappointing Ishant Sharma has been omitted as expected.

MS Dhoni will lead a 15 member squad which includes 8 batsmen, 3 spinners and 4 Fast Bowlers.

India are clubbed in Group-B in the world Cup alongwith Bangladesh, England, South Africa, West Indies, Ireland and The Netherlands.

India will play the inaugural match of the World Cup 2011 against Bangladesh in Mirpur on February 19.

India squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Virender Sehwag (vc), Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel.