ICC Rankings

ICC ODI Rankings

Rank	Team
1	Australia
2	India
3	Sri Lanka
4	South Africa
5	England
6	Pakistan
7	New Zealand
8	Bangladesh
9	West Indies
10	Ireland
11	Zimbabwe
12	Netherlands
13	Kenya

ICC Test Rankings

Rank	Team
1	India
2	South Africa
3	England
4	Sri Lanka
5	Australia
6	Pakistan
7	West Indies
8	New Zealand
9	Bangladesh

Rana Naved returns to Sussex

Sussex have secured seam-bowling Pakistan allrounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan as their overseas player for the first half of the season.

Naved played for Sussex between 2005 to 2007 and - after two years with Yorkshire - for the first month of last season. He will be available until the end of June.

He is a crowd favourite at Hove after twice playing a pivotal role in Sussex's Championship wins in 2006 and 2007. He prospered in his nine appearances last year, taking 27 wickets and scoring 258 runs, including 101 against Leicestershire.

Naved, who is currently representing Tasmanian in Australia's Big Bash Twenty20 competition, has played in nine Tests, 74 one-day and four T20 internationals but is not in Pakistan's World Cup squad. He has not played for his country for almost a year, having been banned for 12 months for indiscipline on the 2009-10 tour of Australia, although that decision was overturned in October.

Sussex coach Mark Robinson said: "We're delighted that Rana is returning this summer as he was like a breath of fresh air when he was with us last year. The energy and match-winning threat he gives us will be an important ingredient for what hopefully will be a successful season."

Source:- http://www.espncricinfo.com/

Ervine pulls out of World Cup squad

Sean Ervine has pulled out of Zimbabwe's squad for the World Cup, and will remain at Hampshire in 2011. Ervine, who had been named in both the preliminary and finalised squads for the tournament, had a change of heart shortly before the national team were due to depart for a training camp in Dubai.

"After having had time to reflect on all of the circumstances, I have realised that this is not the right time to leave Hampshire," said Ervine. "I have a great relationship with this club and its supporters and I feel like part of a family. I feel Hampshire is my home; so much so that I am planning to get married there next year. I do not, therefore, want to be away for long periods of time."

It had appeared certain that Ervine would part ways with Hampshire to reignite his international career, which he described as his "ultimate goal", but his decision not to play for Zimbabwe means he will not be considered an overseas player - a position filled by legspinner Imran Tahir at Hampshire - and will therefore be eligible to play for the county in all forms of the game in 2011. Ervine had proved a success in his six years with the club, helping the team to three trophies, scoring 3,956 first-class runs and taking 118 first class wickets in the process.

"We are very happy that Sean has come to this conclusion," said Hampshire manager Giles White. "He is an important and highly-valued cricketer who is popular with everyone associated with The Rose Bowl and central to our plans for the future."

Alistair Campbell, the head of Zimbabwe's selection panel and former national captain, expressed his disappointment at Ervine's withdrawal. "Zimbabwe Cricket was very excited about Sean coming back into the setup. However, he may not have realised that international cricket is a lot harder than he remembers," Campbell said in a ZC statement.

"He has lived a very comfortable life in county cricket for the last six years and obviously decided at the last minute he might not be up to the challenges of international cricket after all. A lot of people have gone to a lot of effort to make it happen for Sean. Although is very late in the day to change his mind, it is better than realising his mistake during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011."

ZC has approached the ICC Event Technical Committee to seek approval for batsman Tino Mawoyo to replace Ervine in the squad. An opening batsman, Mawoyo played two one-day internationals against Bangladesh in 2006 and is a regular in the Zimbabwe A line-up. He had been named as a non-travelling reserve for the World Cup before Ervine's last-minute departure. Craig Ervine, Sean's younger brother, remains part of Zimbabwe's squad.

Source:- http://www.espncricinfo.com/

Amir plays club game

The ICC has written to the PCB asking for details into the appearance of Mohammad Amir in a friendly club match. Amir is currently provisionally suspended from all levels of cricket facing charges of spot-fixing placed by the governing body in the aftermath of the Lord's Test during Pakistan's tour of England in 2010.

Amir took part in a game in Rawalpindi on Monday, though the contest is not believed to carry any official status. But under the ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct, Amir - and Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, the other two players suspended - are not allowed to play even at club level if those clubs are affiliated to the regional cricket body - in this case the Rawalpindi Cricket Association - which is in turn, affiliated to the PCB. It is believed that the club Amir turned up for is not affiliated to the Rawalpindi association.

A spokesman for the Pakistan board said they were also investigating the matter. "Yes, we have come to the knowledge of Amir playing a match in Rawalpindi and we are investigating the matter," Nadeem Sarwar told AFP.

At the moment it is believed that the ICC has only asked for details of the appearance, after which it will decide whether or not it constitutes a breach of the code. Local officials in Rawalpindi say Amir apologised after appearing in the game, saying he wasn't sure whether or not he could play in a game at that level.

Amir, along with Butt and Asif, was suspended by the ICC after the spot-fixing row centering around pre-planned no-balls broke during the Lord's Test between England and Pakistan.

An ICC anti-corruption tribunal heard the case relating to the three suspended players in Doha, Qatar, last month and is due to announce its verdict on February 5.

2011 ICC Cricket World cup - Schedule and fixtures

The final fixtures of ICC Cricket World cup 2011 has been announced with India taking Bangladesh in the opening match. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be the hosts with Mumbai hosting the final of the World cup. It seems ICC took lessons from 2007 world cup and has divided the teams in two groups so that big teams qualify.

Group Division:

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

Match no.		Date	Teams	Venue
1		19 Feb	India vs Bangladesh	Dhaka
2		20 Feb	New Zealand vs Kenya	Chennai
3		20 Feb	Sri Lanka vs Canada	Hambantota
4		21 Feb	Australia vs Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
5		22 Feb	England vs Netherlands	Nagpur
6		23 Feb	Pakistan vs Kenya	Hambantota
7		24 Feb	South Africa vs West Indies	New Delhi
8		25 Feb	Australia vs New Zealand	Nagpur
9		25 Feb	Bangladesh vs Ireland	Dhaka
10		26 Feb	Sri Lanka vs Pakistan	Colombo
11		27 Feb	India vs England	Kolkata
12		28 Feb	West Indies vs Netherlands	New Delhi
13		28 Feb	Zimbabwe vs Canada	Nagpur
14		1 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Kenya	Colombo
15		2 Mar	England vs Ireland	Bangalore
16		3 Mar	South Africa vs Netherlands	Mohali
17		3 Mar	Pakistan vs Canada	Colombo
18		4 Mar	New Zealand vs Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
19		4 Mar	Bangladesh vs West Indies	Dhaka
20		5 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Australia	Colombo
21		6 Mar	India vs Ireland	Bangalore
22		6 Mar	England vs South Africa	Chennai
23		7 Mar	Kenya vs Canada	New Delhi
24		8 Mar	Pakistan vs New Zealand	Pallekelle
25		9 Mar	India vs Netherlands	New Delhi
26		10 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe	Pallekelle
27		11 Mar	West Indies vs Ireland	Mohali
28		11 Mar	Bangladesh vs England	Chittagong
29		12 Mar	India vs South Africa	Nagpur
30		13 Mar	New Zealand vs Canada	Mumbai
31		13 Mar	Australia vs Kenya	Bangalore
32		14 Mar	Pakistan vs Zimbabwe	Pallekelle
33		14 Mar	Bangladesh vs Netherlands	Chittagong
34		15 Mar	South Africa vs Ireland	Kolkata
35		16 Mar	Australia vs Canada	Bangalore
36		17 Mar	England vs West Indies	Chennai
37		18 Mar	Sri Lanka vs New Zealand	Mumbai
38		18 Mar	Ireland vs Netherlands	Kolkata
39		19 Mar	Australia vs Pakistan	Colombo
40		19 Mar	Bangladesh vs South Africa	Dhaka
41		20 Mar	Zimbabwe vs Kenya	Kolkata
42		20 Mar	India vs West Indies	Chennai
43		23 Mar	First Quarterfinal	Dhaka
44		24 Mar	Second Quarterfinal	Colombo
45		25 Mar	Third Quarterfinal	Dhaka
46		26 Mar	Fourth Quarterfinal	Ahmedabad
47		29 Mar	First Semifinal	Colombo
48		30 Mar	Second Semifinal	Mohali
49		02 Apr	FINAL	Mumbai