Brisbane, Mar. 12: Queensland fast bowler Ben Laughlin, who has taken 20 wickets at an average of 15.85 to guide his team to the Ford Ranger Cup final, has been called into the Australian squad for the Twenty20 and one-day clashes with South Africa.

Laughlin, 26, snared 3-25 in the final as Queensland stunned hot favourite Victoria.

"Ben has had an extremely good summer for Queensland and was instrumental in their one-day final victory," chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said.

"Ben will add to the versatility of the Australian bowling line up as we continue to look at options progressing forward to the 2011 World Cup."

Lahore, Mar. 12: Terming match referee Chris Broad’s statement on the Lahore terror attack as ‘appalling’, Pakistan cricket coach Intikhab Alam has sought an apology from Broad.

“I must say that I was hurt by Chris Broad’s appalling allegations against Pakistan as well as our cricket team after the incident. He must apologise for those comments,” The News quoted Alam, as saying.

Wellington, Mar. 12: The Black Caps bowlers don''t see anything remotely funny about facing Virender Sehwag, but the media do, reports the Waikato Times.

The Delhi destroyer provided nearly as much entertainment after last night''s match as he did in his scintillating innings.

The soft spoken Sehwag opened his press conference in contrasting style to his batting.

Wellington, Mar. 12: Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori remains atop the world one-day cricket bowling rankings.

Vettori reclaimed the top spot in January when he leapfrogged Australian fast bowler Nathan Bracken on the strength of his performance during the five-match series against the West Indies.

The latest rankings include the fifth one-day international against Australia in Brisbane on February 13.

New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Mills has edged further up the one-day rankings to third, while the injury-hit Jacob Oram slips to 19th.

Wellington (New Zealand), Mar. 12: Northern Districts fast bowler Brent Arnel has been selected in the Black Caps squad for the first test against India at Hamilton next week.

New Zealand''s cricket selectors have turned to an old hand and a new face in a desperate bid to constrain India''s rampant batting line-up when the teams switch to test mode.

Wellington, Mar. 12: Jesse Ryder should not be hidden in the New Zealand middle order, but should be allowed to open the innings, given his devastating and aggressive style of batting.

According to stuff. co. nz, the time has come to allow Ryder to fulfill his promise.

He is far more comfortable against pace bowling than spin bowling and due to his late hands, is an ideal fit against the swinging ball.

The bowling is also a worry without Chris Martin. Franklin needs to be back to the 140kmh we know he can bowl at to be effective.