India have dropped down one place to fourth in the ICC Test Championships table after the annual update released on Tuesday, which reflects the performance of only the last three years with the older results being discarded.

Sri Lanka, riding on their Test series win over Pakistan, leveled India (119) on points but replaced Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team at number three after re-calculation upto the nearest decimal 0.01 ratings points difference.

Australia (124) clung on to the top above second-placed South Africa (122) as just five ratings points separate top four teams.

But Ricky Ponting’s men must win both the remaining Ashes Tests to stay there. Otherwise, it will be Graeme Smith’s turn to lead the number-one Test team in the world.

Australia have led the Test rankings ever since the current method was introduced in May 2003.

The progress of Kumar Sangakkara’s team is due to a consistently high performance during the period of the rankings. In that time, the team has played 10 series, winning six, drawing three and losing just one (in Australia).

No matter how the Ashes finishes, England (99) will remain in fifth position but if the home side wins the series, Australia will drop to fourth position in the Test Championship table.

If the series ends in a 1-1 draw, South Africa will rise to the top. Australia, Sri Lanka and India will all have the same rating, but with Australia still clinging on to second place by a decimal point.

In the batting list, Gautam Gambhir remained on second spot with 847 points behind Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara (862).

Sachin Tendulkar (15th), VVS Laxman (17th) and Virender Sehwag (19th) are the other Indian batsmen in the top 20.

Among bowlers, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan are in top 10 at sixth and ninth respectively while Ishant Sharma is in 19th in the list headed by South African Dale Steyn.

The annual update is carried out to ensure the ICC Test Championship table continues to reflect recent form with older results being discarded.

The table reflects all Test series that were completed since August three years ago. All series played until the start of next August will be added to this table, so by then the ratings will be based on four years of results, with series completed within the last two years carrying greater weight.

Next August the first year of results will be dropped and this pattern is repeated each August, with the oldest of the four years of results removed to be gradually replaced with results of series completed over the following 12 months.

Thus, once a year, the rankings change overnight without any new series being completed.

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Pakistan Monday announced their 15-man squad for the tour of Sri Lanka starting next week.

Pakistan, who won the second edition of the World Twenty20 in London on Sunday, will play three Tests, five one-day internationals and a one twenty20 match on the tour starting next week.

Team: Younus Khan (captain), Misbah-ul-Haq (vice-captain), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamir, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rauf, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam.

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Indian cricketers have failed to find a place in the World Twenty20 squad released by ICC in London on Monday. The squad consists of four Pakistan, three Sri Lanka, three South Africa and two West Indies players.

Member of Team India, who failed miserably in the T20 world championship, could not find a place in the ICC’s World T20 XI.

Younus Khan, who bids adieu to the shortest version of the game, has been made the skipper of the team alongwith his Pakistan team-mates all-rounder Shahid Afridi, wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal and paceman Umar Gul.

Sri Lanka’s Tillakratne Dilshan, player of the tournament, named as an opener alongwith the West Indies Chris Gayle while South Africa Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers included for the middle-order.

West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, teenage South Africa paceman Wayne Parnell and Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis complete the line-up, with Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga as the 12th man.

ICC’s World Twenty20 squad:

Jacques Kallis (SA), AB de Villiers (SA), Shahid Afridi (Pak), Kamran Akmal (Pak), Chris Gayle (WI), Tilakratne Dilshan (SL), Mohammed Younus Khan (Pak, Skipper), Dwayne Bravo (WI), Wayne Parnell (SA), Umar Gul (Pak), Ajantha Mendis (SL), Lasith Malinga (SL)

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The Last Season of T20 World Cup was won by India. In the upcoming season of ICC T20 World Cup 2009, 12 teams are going to participate in the tournament and all the teams are divided in to four groups as given Below :
Group A : India, Bangladesh, Ireland
Group B : Pakistan, England, Netherland
Group C : Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies
Group D : South Africa, New Zealand, Scotland

The ICC T20 World Cup 2009 will be starting from Friday, June 5, 2009.

The tournament ends on Sunday, June 21, 2009 with the Final match at London.

Match No     Match                                         Day         Time     Venue
1                England v Netherlands         5-Jun-09     17:30     Lord’s
2                New Zealand v Scotland      6-Jun-09     10:00     The Oval
3               Australia v West Indies        6-Jun-09     13:30     The Oval
4               India v Bangladesh                 6-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
5               South Africa v Scotland        7-Jun-09     13;30     The Oval
6               England v Pakistan                  7-Jun-09     17:30     The Oval
7               Bangladesh v Ireland             8-Jun-09     13:30     Trent Bridge
8               Australia v Sri Lanka              8-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
9               Pakistan v Netherlands         9-Jun-09     13:30     Lord’s
10            New Zealand v South Africa 9-Jun-09     17:30     Lord’s
11            Sri Lanka v West Indies       10-Jun-09     13:30     Trent Bridge
12           India v Ireland                        10-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
13           D1 v A2                                       11-Jun-09     13:30     Trent Bridge
14           B2 v D2                                       11-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
15           B1 v C2                                       12-Jun-09     13:30     Lord’s
16          A1 v C1                                        12-Jun-09     17:30     Lord’s
17          C1 v D2                                        13-Jun-09     13:30     The Oval
18          D1 v B1                                         13-Jun-09     17:30     The Oval
19          A2 v C2                                        14-Jun-09     13:30     Lord’s
20         A1 v B2                                         14-Jun-09     17:30     Lord’s
21          B1 v A2                                         15-Jun-09     13:30     The Oval
22          B2 v C1                                         15-Jun-09     17:30     The Oval
23         D1 v C2                                         16-Jun-09     13:30     Trent Bridge
24         D2 v A1                                        16-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
25      1st Semi-Final                              18-Jun-09     17:30     Trent Bridge
26     2nd Semi-Final                             19-Jun-09     17:30     The Oval
27         Final                                             21-Jun-09     15:00     Lord’s

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Thirteen venues in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been allotted 49 matches of the ICC World Cup 2011. Eight venues will be in India, three in Sri Lanka and two in Bangladesh.

Haroon Lorgat, Chief Executive officer (CEO), ICC said after a meeting of the ICC World Cup 2011 Central organising Committee (COC) here at the Cricket Centre on Tuesday that the venues are being finalised. “The opening ceremony and the opening match will be held at Bangladesh on February 18 and February 19, 2011 and the final in Mumbai in March,” said Mr. Lorgat.

The COC decided to allot two quarterfinals to Bangladesh and one each to India and Sri Lanka, one semifinal to Sri Lanka and India. “The final will be held in the last week of March,” said Prof. Ratnakar Shetty, who has been appointed Event Managing Director of the ICC World Cup 2011.

Mr. Lorgat said the special advisor to the ICC, Mr. Inderjit Singh Bindra will play a key role in the management of the ICC’s top signature event and also that the BCCI office in Mumbai will be the central Secretariat of the World Cup.

At a meeting of the Central Organising Committee of the World Cup 2011 a few months ago, BCCI had nominated Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mohali, Ahmedabad and Nagpur as the venues. Sri Lanka Cricket had nominated Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) and Premadasa Stadium at Colombo and Bangladesh had named the Banghabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka as the venues in their respective countries.

With Pakistan not anymore associated with the 49-match competition in 2011 as a host country, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have identified one additional venue each, while the BCCI has retained the same eight venues to host 29 matches including the final at the completely redeveloped Wankhede Stadium at an estimated cost of Rs. 150 crore.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was to host the 14 matches including semifinal at Lahore, with Karachi, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi being the other venues. But the decision of the ICC Development International (IDI) to remove Pakistan as a co-host country has given an opportunity for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh Cricket Boards to add one more venue each.

Shashank Manohar (President, BCCI) will head the security committee. “We recognise that instilling confidence in the security arrangements has to be in place and important. We have no doubt that we would be able to put in place security systems for a safe and successful conduct of the World Cup. The security planning will be an ongoing exercise from now,” said Mr. Lorgat.

He also said he has no information officially from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that its players would not take part in the World Cup. “It’s all being speculated, I don’t they will actually do that. We will cross the bridge when such a matter arises. There’s also no proposal from the PCB that it can host the matches in Dubai. It’s all very speculative. The IDO Board has made a decision and we are moving forward.”

The three host countries will have to appoint an Event Operations Director heading the local organising committee (LOC) and they would report to the Event Managing Director.

Operational Planning: Mahbubul Anam (Bangladesh, Convenor), N. Srinivasan (India), Duleep Mendis (Sri Lanka), Prof. Ratnakar Shetty (Event Managing Director) and Haroon Lorgat (CEO, ICC).

Venue Inspection Committee: N. Srinivasan (Convenor) and one member each from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

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Yet another interesting match in the Indian Premium League season two, between the Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings has just begun in Durban.

Daredevils won toss and chose to bat first. The openers Gambir (0) and Sehwag (6) walked back to the pavilion in the initial overs leaving the Delhi devils in a critical position. The scenario was changed completely by the Sri Lankan Dilshan who made the fastest 50 with just 24 balls. Raina’s catch with Morkel’s bowling brought Dilshan’s performance to a halt when he was 50. The openers wickets were taken by L.Balaji and Manpreet Gony.

The latest score update is 90-3 in 10 overs.

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International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday said Pakistan would not host 2011 World Cup matches because of security concerns.

After ICC’s announcement Pakistan’s future as an international cricket destination hits a dead end just two years before the World Cup is to be played in the sub-continent.

The decision to strip Pakistan of World Cup hosting rights has been taken 44 days after the attack on Sri Lanka’s cricketers outside the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore by a group of heavily armed terrorists.

“It is a regrettable decision but our number one priority is to create certainty and deliver a safe, secure and successful event. However, the uncertainty created by events within Pakistan created a huge question mark over our ability to do just that. By making this decision now we hope we can put a great deal of any uncertainty to one side and press on with our preparations which, given this is cricket’s biggest and most high profile event within our range of tournaments, are substantial,” said ICC President David Morgan.

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