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.

South Africa Squad for ICC World Cup 2011

Uncapped leg-spin bowler Imran Tahir was named in South Africa's 15-man squad for the Cricket World Cup 2011 in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from February 19 to April 2.

Remarkable omissions are veteran wicketkeeper batsman Mark Boucher and all-rounder Albie Morkel, who both had reputations as strong finishers in the closing overs of one-day games.

Tahir, John Botha and left-armer Robin Peterson will form South Africa's spin attack.

Morne van Wyk, who shone in a Twenty20 match against India, was chosen as the back-up wicketkeeper to de Villiers, had been selected to fill the number seven role.

South Africa Squad: Graeme Smith (c), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers(w), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk(w).

Zimbabwe Squad for ICC World Cup 2011

Zimbabwe's best known batsman Hamilton Masakadza not selected in World Cup Squad.

The squad: Elton Chigumbura (capt), Regis Chakabva, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Sean Ervine, Gregory Lamb, Shingirai Masakadza, Chris Mpofu, Ray Price, Edward Rainsford, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya and Sean Williams. Manager Lovemore Banda.