West Indies Removed Experienced Sarwan for Final Test Against India

West Indies have dropped experienced but out-of-form batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan from their 13-member squad for the third cricket Test against India starting on Wednesday.

Kieran Powell has been named to take Sarwan's place in the squad.

The 21-year-old left-hander is the Leeward Islands opener and a regular member of the West Indies A team.

There are no other changes to the squad from the second Test in Barbados which ended in a draw. India hold a 1-0 series lead in the three-match rubber.

Powell has played two one-dayers for the West Indies, both in the Champions Trophy in South Africa two years ago.

In all, he has 5 runs to his name from these two international matches after he made a duck against Bangladesh, and 5 against India.

Sarwan has had a wretched summer with the bat and made only 29 runs from four innings of the first two Tests against India. He was no better against Pakistan in the ODI series, making 54 runs from four innings of two Tests.

"Ramnaresh is having a difficult time and it is best for him to make way and allow a player in better form to contribute to the team totals," said Clyde Butts, Chairman of the Selection Committee.

"We have no doubt about Ramnaresh's class as a batsman, he has proven himself countless times in the past and we are certain that he will return stronger in the near future," Butts added.

"Kieran is young but has been on the first class circuit for some time and is a former Windies Under-19 World Cup player. He did well for the West Indies A and scored an impressive hundred against England Lions in the WICB Regional four-Day Tournament but got injured subsequently."

Powell has been working for the past several weeks at the Sagicor High Performance Center in Barbados under Head Coach Andre Coley and Batting Coach Carl Hooper.

The Third Test will be played at Windsor Park here from July 6. This is the first time a Test is being hosted in Dominica though it has staged four one-dayers -- two each against Bangladesh and South Africa -- in the past.

West Indies squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh, Devendra Bishoo, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Kirk Edwards, Kieran Powell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels and Lendl Simmons.

Selectors faced with Sehwag dilemma ahead of team selection

Dashing opener Virender Sehwag's availability will be the bone of contention when the national selectors meet here Saturday to select the Test squad for the cricket tour of England.

While Sachin Tendulkar (rested from the ongoing tour of the West Indies), Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir (recovering from injuries) will be back to bolster the squad, there hasn't yet been any concrete information about the status of Sehwag's injured shoulder that underwent a surgery in May.

Patience pays off for India paceman Sharma

A source close to Sehwag said that the opener may just struggle to get fit in time for the first Test as "he is yet to get back the desired strength in his shoulders."

The first Test starts from July 21 at the Lord's. India are scheduled to play four Tests and five ODIs during the tour of England.

"We have no information as of now on the status of Sehwag's injury. We will only get to know once we are in Chennai. We have heard that Gautam and Zaheer are fit," a selector preferring anonymity told PTI today.

There is speculation that selectors may just take a gamble by including Sehwag in the team and wait for him to get fit by the time the second Test starts in Nottingham from July 29.

Sunil Gavaskar hits out at ICC

 Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for deciding to abolish runners for injured batsmen in One-day International matches.

According to Gavaskar, the decision by the International Cricket Council (ICC) is unfair to the batsmen and he suggested that there should be similar restrictions for bowlers and fielders.

"I would also like to suggest that there should be no water for bowlers at the boundary end. They bowl one over and come to the boundary where energy drinks are waiting for them," Gavaskar told 'NDTV'.

The legendary batsman asserted that the ICC should also consider doing away with drinks breaks and the concept of substitute fielders in order to ensure a level playing for both the batting and fielding sides.

"There should be no drinks breaks that are usually scheduled after one hour or so. If you are going to make a situation like this then there should not be any substitute fielders either," Gavaskar stated.

"There should not be a substitute fielder when a regular player goes off the field. If a fielder gets injured or has cramps, he should either go off the field or stay there. That ways it balances out everything and the batting side is not the only one affected," he added.

ICC decided 14-team format for 2015 World Cup

Under fierce criticism from associate members, the International Cricket Council (ICC) made a U-turn Tuesday and decided that 14 teams will participate in the 2015 World Cup, a change from the earlier ten-team format announced earlier this year.

Four associate teams will play the next World Cup alongside 10 full members, reports ESPNcricinfo.

The decision to reinstate the associates in the mega-event was taken on the third day of the ICC's annual conference in Hong Kong.

On Monday, the ICC's chief executives' committee (CEC) recommended to the executive board that there should be a qualifying tournament for associates for the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

ESPNcricinfo reported that the executive board acted on the CEC's recommendation and ensured participation of associate teams by expanding the tournament from 10 to 14 teams.

Tendulkar loses top postion to Kallis in ICC Test rankings

Sachin Tendulkar on Friday lost the coveted number one spot in the ICC Test rankings to South Africa's Jacques Kallis but Rahul Dravid, adjudged man-of -the-match for scoring a century in the first Test against West Indies, returned to the top-20 after jumping nine places.

According to an ICC media release, left-hander Suresh Raina, too, moved up 26 places to be placed 61st after his after his useful knock of 82 in the first innings against West Indies at Kingston.

Tendulkar lost the top after the iconic batsman decided to skip the series against West Indies. He is currently placed second.

As a player loses one per cent of his rating points for every Test he misses, Tendulkar will lose more points as he will not figure in the remaining two Tests.

However, the Mumbaikar will still enter next month's Test series against England as the number two batsman.

World cricket body probing Aamer ban breach claims

The International Cricket Council are investigating reports that Pakistan bowler Mohammad Aamer has continued playing despite his ban for spot-fixing, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Aamer, 19, was hit with a five-year ban in February following allegations of involvement in a spot-fixing scandal during last summer's Test series between England and Pakistan.

However reports in England have said Aamer has flouted the terms of his ban by playing for a junior club in Surrey.

We have heard the reports and we are investigating, ICC spokesman James Fitzgerald said.

The suspension very clearly states that it is a suspension from all forms of cricket and all cricket-related activities.

The Daily Star reported that Aamer had been spotted playing for Addington 1743 in a Surrey Cricket League Division One game last Saturday.

Witnesses said Aamer stole the show, scoring 60 runs before taking four wickets in an 81-run win over St Lukes.

No one could quite believe it was him, St Lukes batsman Karl Quinn, 37, was quoted as saying. There was no attempt to disguise who he was, he even posed for a picture with me.

One of our Pakistani players was rubbing his eyes in disbelief and asking: ?Is that who I think it is??. He didn?t stay till the end but it was blatantly him.

Serena Williams comeback for tennis

Serena Williams will make her return to tennis after missing almost a year with injury and illnesss, taking a wild card into next week's Eastbourne grass-court tournament, officials said Tuesday.

The one-time number one who now stands 25 after her months of inactivity, joins her sister Venus in the ATP-WTA field at the English south coast beach town.

Serena last played as she won a fourth Wimbledon title last July, before suffering a foot injury which required surgery. In February, she had to deal with a blood clot in her lung suffer.