Quick singles: Delight for Canadians

Tournament minnows Canada pulled off the first major upset of the tournament yesterday, beating test nation Bangladesh by a comfortable 60 runs in their opening group B match.

Although Canada slumped after a positive start to be dismissed for a modest 180, their bowlers cashed in on a bouncy pitch at Durban to send Bangladesh packing for just 120 in 27.2 overs.

Hannan Sarkar and Sanwar Hossain, who both made 25, were the only batsmen to offer sustained resistance as the Canadians' superb fielding supported accurate outswing bowling from the dreadlocked Austin Codrington, who took five wickets, and Davis Joseph.

The 30-year-old Ian Billcliff, who has played provincial cricket in New Zealand, top-scored for Canada with 42, but was one of two foolish runouts as the North Americans failed to bat out their full 50 overs.

Protest backlash

Zimbabwe players Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, who launched a scathing attack on President Robert Mugabe and his Government, have been reported to the International Cricket Council by their own national cricket board.

They could face a charge of bringing the game into disrepute. The pair could also be sanctioned for wearing black armbands as part of their protest.

Flower, arguably Zimbabwe's greatest player and among the top batsmen in the world, is not expected to play a major event for Zimbabwe again.

Olonga was the first black player to represent Zimbabwe.

Bottle battle

West Indies coach Roger Harper has insisted that his pacemen hit the bottle if they are to have a serious impact on the World Cup.

As the Windies, who shocked South Africa with a three-run win in their opening match, prepared to face New Zealand in Port Elizabeth tonight, Harper demanded improvement from his quicks and went about a curious way of getting what he wanted.

Towards the end of yesterday's net session, he had his squad of fast bowlers practise what he called "spot bowling."

The coach placed three plastic bottles at a yorker length as targets for the pacemen.

Speed cameras

Shane Bond knows he cannot top Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar for speed, but he will not be far off them in this tournament.

The New Zealand pace spearhead faces the Australian and Pakistani speedsters on a level playing field for the first time - measured for once by the same speed gun.

Akhtar has the fastest recorded delivery, a highly dubious 161km/h to New Zealand's Craig McMillan in Lahore last April, and Lee is not far behind with a top reading in the 155-158km/h range on the Australian radar. Bond's fastest is 153km/h in the West Indies in July.

World Cup schedule

Points table