KEY POINTS:
Australia last night named injured allrounder Andrew Symonds and fast bowler Shane Tait in their 15-man squad for their defence of the cricket World Cup next month.
Symonds is likely to miss the opening matches of the tournament as he continues his recovery from a ruptured bicep tendon,
while Tait got the nod over Stuart Clark for the final seamer's berth.
New South Wales wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was also included to act as Adam Gilchrist's understudy, meaning Victorian allrounder Cameron White missed out.
The Australians are in group A with the Netherlands, Scotland and South Africa, and begin their campaign against the Scots at St Kitts on March 14.
Cricket Australia have called up New South Wales batsman Phil Jaques for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series of one-day matches against New Zealand starting in Wellington on Friday because of concerns over a hip problem for Michael Clarke.
Clarke, who was named vice captain for the series, suffered hip soreness during the tri-series finals against England.
"Scans today have cleared him of anything major and he will still travel to New Zealand as originally planned," team physio Alex Kountouris. "If the soreness continues to improve sufficiently he will play a role during the series."
* Indian selectors kept faith with the struggling Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan by including them in their final cup squad. Batsman Sehwag had shown patchy form in the last few months and failed to perform in India's recent test and one-day series defeats in South Africa.
The Delhi opener's carefree attitude has been blamed for his poor run and doubts had been raised about his selection after he managed just one 50 in the last 11 innings since August.
"The ball is in his court now," Indian captain Rahul Dravid said. "It is up to him to show the faith [shown in him] was justified and he can perform a significant role for India."
The 22-year-old Pathan has endured a slump in his bowling form since India's test tour of West Indies in May-July.
A shoulder strain also sidelined him for the first two games of the current home one-day series against Sri Lanka.
Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar will be playing his fifth World Cup. The Indian squad comprises six batsmen, five medium-pacers, two spinners and two wicketkeepers.
- REUTERS
