World Twenty20 2009

Xavier Marshall recalled for World Twenty20
Cricinfo staff
May 9, 2009

Xavier Marshall, the Jamaica batsman, has been recalled to the West Indies side for the World Twenty20. His team-mate, the allrounder Dave Bernard who is currently part of the team trying to defend the Wisden Trophy in England, has also been picked for next month's tournament.
Chris Gayle leads the full-strength 15-man squad, with Denesh Ramdin as his deputy. The only player from the side that was selected for West Indies' previous Twenty20 (against England in Trinidad) to miss out is opener Devon Smith.
The explosive but inconsistent Marshall had been a part of the New Zealand tour late last year and also played the first Test against England in February before losing his place after an extended lean patch.
West Indies will be looking to improve on their poor showing in the inaugural World twenty20 in 2007, when they crashed out in the first round after losing matches to South Africa and Bangladesh. In this year's tournament in England, they are grouped with Australia and Sri Lanka in the first phase.
West Indies squad: Chris Gayle (capt), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard jnr., Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Xavier Marshall, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor

ICC World Twenty20 2009

de Saram ready to hold his own
Sa'adi Thawfeeq
May 10, 2009

Batsman Indika de Saram has forced his way into the Sri Lanka ICC World Twenty20 squad and is going to do whatever he can to keep himself at the top. He was surprisingly left out of the provisional squad of 25 picked by the selectors prior to the Twenty20 tournament last month, but performed exceptionally well to earn a recall to the national squad.
"Taking into account my unpredictable international career and my performances in domestic cricket for the past five to six years I consider it a big achievement to be selected once again," he said. "This selection is just another challenge for me. I will not stop here but I will try to make use of this opportunity to extend my international career."
de Saram was called up for the tournament in England after some outstanding performances for Ruhuna in the Inter-Provincial Twenty20 tournament. He was the joint leading batsman in the competition with 254 runs at an average of 50.80 and a strike-rate of 139.56. He has also hit the most number of sixes (12) and fours (18) in the tournament with a top score of 94.
"I don't reserve six-hitting shots only for limited overs or Twenty20 cricket. If the ball is pitched in the right area for the shot I will play it regardless of the type of cricket I am playing," he said. "Whether it is a shorter version or the longer version makes no difference to me. It could even be the first ball I faced.

World Twenty20 2009

Cricinfo staff
May 10, 2009

Haddin tips 'first-class' results in World Twenty20

Australia's Twenty20 problems can be fixed in time for next month's World Cup, according to the part-time captain Brad Haddin. Haddin was in charge when Australia were comfortably beaten by Pakistan in Dubai on Thursday to record their third loss in a row in the game's shortest form.
Despite the seven-wicket defeat, Haddin said Australia's results would be "first-class" during the two-week tournament in England. Australia open their campaign against West Indies at The Oval and Sri Lanka are also in their group, with one side being knocked out before the Super Eights.
"The bottom line is that Australia goes away to every tournament hoping to win it," Haddin said in the Sun-Herald. "We will prepare now for a solely Twenty20 tournament and I'll be very surprised if our results aren't first class. It's a World Cup event and it's always at the top of the agenda for any Australian cricket team to win a World Cup."
Australia will play two warm-ups against Bangladesh and New Zealand in an effort to fine-tune. "It's hard to judge Twenty20 form when you play one-off games at the back end or start of tours," Haddin said. "It will be a different story come the World Twenty20."
Shane Watson, the team's leading batsman in the United Arab Emirates, was looking forward to the return of Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson for the tournament. "I'm sure when we get our players back, we are going to be back at our absolute best," Watson told AAP. The squad has a short break before a team camp in Queensland from May 24.