Kenya a mix of the old and the new

Kenya have announced their 15-man squad for next month's World Cup and it is a combination of youth and experience under newly-appointed captain Jimmy Kamande. The announcement was more of a rubber-stamping exercise than a surprise, given it is the same group who are currently preparing for the tournament with matches in India.

Steve Tikolo, the 41-year-old allrounder who led his country to the semi-finals in 2003, will be taking part in his fifth World Cup as will 32-year-old Thomas Odoyo. At the other end of the spectrum, nine of the squad will be making their World Cup debuts.

The warm-up matches in India suggest Kenya will struggle to make any impression in the main competition. Although their batsmen have been scoring well, their bowlers have been ineffective and all five matches against Baroda and Gujarat have been lost.

Their preparations will be slight disrupted as Seren Waters, the 20-year-old opening batsman, who has scored the only hundred on the India trip, has to return to his studies for a week at the insistence of Durham University.

Kenya squad

Jimmy Kamande (capt), Seren Waters, Alex Obanda, David Obuya, Collins Obuya, Steve Tikolo, Tamnay Mishra, Rakep Patel, Maurice Ouma, Thomas Odoyo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, Peter Ongondo, Shem Ngoche, James Ngoche.

Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Yousuf left out of World Cup

Pakistan's selectors have displayed an unusual consistency in their ODI squad, retaining all players bar one involved in the New Zealand ODIs for their World Cup campaign. Fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed, who is part of the 16-man ODI squad in New Zealand, is the unlucky one, missing out.

In opting for continuity, the selectors have not picked the veteran Mohammad Yousuf, indicating that his career is all but over. And as had been widely expected, they have remarkably not named a captain or deputy so far, leaving open the possibility that Shahid Afridi, who has been the limited overs leader, may be replaced.

The 15-man squad is generally low on surprise, and given that Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Shoaib Malik, four key players, are not cleared for selection, almost picked itself. It is a fairly fresh one also; eight of the players have no previous World Cup experience.

The batting spots are shared by a mix of the old and new, with Asad Shafiq and Umar Akmal the ones to keep an eye on, around Younis Khan. The presence of Misbah-ul-Haq will raise some eyebrows. He has only played two ODIs in 2010 and was dropped midway through Pakistan's last ODI series against South Africa.

The bowling has considerable variety, with Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz expected to share the bulk of pace duties. Sohail Tanvir has a chance to resurrect his career after two injury-struck years. Much might depend on the spinners, with Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman providing contrasting support to the threat of Afridi.

Yousuf made the 30-man preliminary World Cup squad but hasn't played a one-dayer since he was recalled for the series-decider against South Africa last November in Dubai and made only 3. Though he has played 281 ODIs for Pakistan, he scored only one half-century in 10 matches last year and his World Cup experiences have generally been poor: he has only two half-centuries in 13 career World Cup matches.

The situation with the captaincy has built up steadily over the last few weeks. There has been increasing speculation that Afridi may be removed, the board not pleased with his regular public statements, including criticisms of his own side. He was retained as ODI captain for the New Zealand ODIs but his personal performance in the last ten ODIs doesn't help his case. He averages 20.9 with the bat and 48.7 with the ball. The move to name Misbah as vice-captain for the New Zealand ODIs is seen as a means of putting pressure on Afridi.

But before leaving for New Zealand, Afridi said he was not worried about the position. "I am not worried about the captaincy, it never worries me," Afridi told reporters. "I have never run after the captaincy in my entire career. It is something for the cricket board to decide. If they feel I am the right man they will appoint me and if they don't they will make someone else captain.

"I am a senior professional and I know what I have to do. I have to lead the team to win the series and perform well as player. I know our winning the series will be very important because if we win in New Zealand it will give us a boost for the World Cup."

Squad

: Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Ahmed Shehzad

Ireland pick Ed Joyce for World Cup

Ed Joyce, the former England batsman who also plays for Sussex, has been picked in the 15-man Ireland squad for the 2011 World Cup. Ireland, led by batsman William Porterfield, have also selected allrounder Alex Cusack and seamer Boyd Rankin, players who didn't feature in their last ODI assignment, a lost series against Zimbabwe in September. Rankin, who was Ireland's leading wicket-taker in the 2007 World Cup, has recovered from a stress fracture in his foot that has kept him out of the team since July 2010.

Joyce, who last played an ODI in 2007, was cleared by the ICC in November 2010 to represent Ireland, the country of his birth, and

he subsequently joined the team in a pre-World Cup preparation camp in India. Joyce has played 17 ODIs for England, averaging 27.70, though he's been a prolific run-getter on the List A and first-class circuit.

Ireland surprised one and all in the 2007 World Cup, knocking Pakistan out of the league stage, qualifying for the Super Eights and beating Bangladesh. Nine Irish players who featured in that tournament are part of the 2011 World Cup squad.

"I like the balance of the squad. As with most Irish teams of the past few years, there are quite a few allrounders, and that gives us plenty of options in all departments," Ireland coach Phil Simmons was quoted as saying in a release. "What is different this time, from 2007, is that 13 of the 15 earn their living from cricket - that's practically a full-time squad.

"We were also able to spend a month in India acclimatising, and that will stand us in good stead."

Porterfield added: "There has been a lot of hard work put in over the past few weeks and months and being in India in November for the training has really helped the lads in getting to where they want to be."

Ireland travel to Dubai for a training camp on January 28, and play warm-up games against New Zealand and Zimbabwe in the lead-up to the World Cup.

Ireland squad: William Porterfield (capt), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Niall O'Brien (wk), Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Gary Wilson (wk), Andrew White, Ed Joyce.