Brisbane, Feb 12 : Captain Darren Sammy wants the West Indies to play like world champions when they meet Australia in a one-off Twenty20 international Wednesday.

West Indies are the Word T20 champions and their match against Australia is coming on the heels of a dreaded whitewash in a five-match ODI series, reports CMC.

Sammy says his men have not played like the team that won the T20 title in Sri Lanka last year and is therefore promising the Aussies a show at the Gabba.

Melbourne, Feb 8 : Ben Rohrer and Nathan Coulter-Nile could make their debuts for their nation as Cricket Australia's (CA) National Selection Panel (NSP) Friday named a 12-player squad for the only T20I against West Indies at the Gabba next Wednesday.

Melbourne, Feb 8 (IANS) Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin will join the squad in place of Matthew Wade for the fifth and final One-Day International (ODI) against the West Indies here Sunday.

Wade is departing for India Saturday ahead of the upcoming four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Nathan Coulter-Nile is with the ODI squad at the Sydney Cricket Ground for the fourth ODI Friday and will fly to Melbourne Saturday as extra cover, as Mitchell Starc's workload is managed ahead of his departure for the Tour of India.

Cuttack, Feb 7 : Indian captain Mithali Raj scored a brilliant century to lead her side to an easy victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the seventh place play-off in the ICC Women's World Cup 2013 at Cuttack on Thursday.

Mithali scored 103 off 141 deliveries, an innings laced with 13 boundaries and one six as she took her side past the Pakistan total of 192.

Canberra, Feb 7 : Captain Darren Sammy has lamented the failure of the West Indies to exploit potential match-winning moments in their current One Day International series against Australia.

Sammy was reacting after Australia took a winning 3-0 lead in the five-match series Wednesday, following their 39-run win at Manuka Oval.

Windies hopes of erasing the home side's mammoth 329 were kept alive by a third wicket stand of 114 by the Bravo brothers, Darren and Dwayne until seamer James Faulkner turned the tables with a four-wicket haul.

Sydney, Feb 6 : Australian legend Ricky Ponting and Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar have already started planning Mumbai Indians’ strategy in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season through text messages.

Ponting was picked up by Tendulkar''s franchise for 400,000 dollars in the IPL auction last week, the Age reports. It caused one Indian media outlet to describe the pair playing together, and possibly opening the innings, as an unprecedented miracle.

Sydney, Feb 6  Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif have left for Switzerland to fight to overturn bans imposed two years ago for spot-fixing.

The International Cricket Council banned captain Butt and fast bowlers Asif and Mohammad Aamir for contriving to bowl deliberate no-balls during the Lord''s Test between Pakistan and England in August 2010, reports News. com. au.

Butt was banned for 10 years, with five suspended, Asif for seven years with two suspended and the then teenager Aamir for five years.

Karachi, Feb 6 : Pakistan have 10 days to figure out a way to counter South Africa''s new-ball bowling attack ahead of the second Test at Newlands.

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq said their inability to find a way to deal with the new ball was the major factor in their 211-run defeat in the first Test on Monday, reports The Dawn.

The next Test will be played in Cape Town where South Africa bowled Australia out for 47 in November 2011 and New Zealand for 45 just last month.

Karachi, Feb 6 : Former Pakistan coach Mohsin Khan has said that the team''s 211-run drubbing in the first Test in Johannesburg at the hands of the Proteas was a result of the team''s lack of determination, fighting spirit and killer instinct.

Pakistan were bowled out for 49 in the first-innings, their lowest total in the format, before being dismissed for 268 in the second innings to hand a 1-0 lead to South Africa in the three-match series, reports The Express Tribune.

New Delhi, Feb 6 : Bowing to pressure from the Pataudi family, particularly his wife Sharmila Tagore, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Wednesday finally decided to institute an annual lecture after former captain late Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.

"The memorial lecture will be an humble recognition of his contribution to the sport," BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a statement.

London, Feb 5 : Former England captain Andrew Strauss was on Monday awarded honorary life membership of the MCC, the prestigious English institution responsible for safeguarding the game''s rules.

Strauss, 35, guided England to consecutive Ashes victories over Australia in 2009 and 2011 before announcing his retirement from all forms of cricket in August last year.

He is the 27th former England skipper to become an honorary life member of the MCC and joins a select group of current and former players, umpires, administrators and journalists.

He described it as a great honour that he had no hesitation in accepting.

Sydney, Feb 5 : Michael Clarke has claimed all rounder Shane Watson's decision to quit bowling and return to international cricket as a batsman would expose him to a much bigger fight for a Test berth.

Clarke said that at his best Watson, who will make his latest injury comeback as an opener in the one-day international against the West Indies in Canberra on Wednesday, was as good as any player in the world, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

However, the Australia captain also warned his deputy that he would need to perform to earn back his Test spot for the upcoming tour of India.

Johannesburg, Feb 4 : Dale Steyn picked up eleven wickets to help South Africa register a comprehensive 211 runs win over touring Pakistan on the day four of the first Test match at the Wanderers.

Set a target of 480, Pakistan were dismissed for 268 on the fourth day of the Test after being shot out for 49 in their first innings, Sport24 reports.

Steyn was chiefly responsible for their demise with his remarkable six-wicket haul, for eight runs, in 8.1 overs in Pakistan's first innings and 5/52 in the second.

His match figures were 11 for 60, the paper added.

Sydney, Feb 2 : Australian cricketer Mitchell Starc has dismissed suggestions that he would soon be undergoing surgery to treat his injuries in a bid to be fit for the upcoming Ashes series in July.

Starc, who is managing ankle spurs on his right foot, said that he will not be missing any of the ongoing West Indies fifty-over games or the upcoming India Tests, in order to have surgery, although he added that he would probably need surgery in the future for a joint calcification, News. com. au reports.

Karachi, Feb 1 : Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to stop trying to convince ''weak teams'' such as Bangladesh to play in their country.

The flamboyant allrounder, who rejected a lucrative offer of around Rs 40 million to play in the Bangladesh Premier League, said that while he understood the honest efforts made by the board to somehow revive international cricket in Pakistan, he feels that running after teams like Bangladesh would serve no purpose, reports The Nation.

Wellington, Feb 1 : The International Cricket Council (ICC) would donate 1.8 million dollars to New Zealand over the next three years to help them improve at the international level.

At its first board meeting for 2013 in Dubai, the ICC decided to allocate 600,000 dollars each year to New Zealand Cricket (NZC) over the next three years from its Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme
(TAPP), which is aimed at developing more competitive teams among full members and associate/affiliate members, Stuff. co. nz reports.

Wellington, Feb 1 : Axed New Zealand captain Ross Taylor has been named in the one-day and Twenty20 squads to play England.

Taylor had already been selected in a New Zealand XI to play England in two warm-up games in Whangarei next week, but will now return to a Black Caps team he decided against touring with to South Africa, Stuff. co. nz reports.

Otago opener Hamish Rutherford is the only new cap in the Twenty20 and one-day squads, earning a call-up for the T20 series. Veteran teammate Ian Butler returns to the international fold for the series, as well, the paper reported.

Sydney, Feb 1 : Xavier Doherty has claimed he is fully prepared for Australia's tough four-match Test series against India after national selector John Inverarity suggested he could usurp Nathan Lyon in the sub-continent.

Doherty threw his baggy green cap in a drawer after his traumatic two Tests against England two summers ago, but he has now dusted it off with renewed confidence for the four-Test series against the world''s best players of spin, the Sydney Morning Herald reports

Johannesburg, Feb 1 : South Africa Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula has praised Graeme Smith on the eve of his 100th Test as Proteas captain, saying he is an inspiration to every one in the country, including him. Mbalula said Smith''s exceptional display of talent, sense of duty and patriotism places him in a league of his own, adding he e is an individual who gave it his all and who inspired even him to become better.

Karachi, Jan 31 : Pakistan opener Taufeeq Umar, who was ruled out of the tour of South Africa just two days before the first Test starts in Johannesburg due to an injury, has been replaced by Imran Farhat.

Umar, 31, suffered a muscle injury in his shin and the team management decided to call for a replacement, reports Sport24. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesperson Nadeem Sarwar said doctors have advised Umar four to five weeks rest.

Umar has played 43 Tests since making his debut in 2001 and has so far scored 2 943 runs.