Bowler Kyle Mills to miss World Cup opener

Kyle Mills will not be available for selection for the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup, the New Zealand Cricket medical staff announced today.

Mills complained of some back soreness during preparation for the first World Cup match and because of the pain was unable participate in team training today.

He had received intensive treatment but it was apparent that he would not be able to take any part in tomorrow's opening World Cup.

Medical staff would continue to monitor the injury and provide further treatment.

Cricket fans set for new innings on Web

The International Cricket Council's (ICC) Anti-Corruption and Security Unit might have barred players, team coaches, managers and match officials from mobile tweeting during World Cup matches, but there is no dearth of options for cricket enthusiasts to get live scores, commentary, news and videos on the Internet platform. Social networking sites, cricket portals and Internet fan sites are bringing ball-by-ball coverage in real time, to millions of netizens across the globe.

While Facebook (FB), through its multiple cricket groups and World Cup 'Fan Pages' get experts, fans, and followers of the game to discuss, debate, analyse every ball and upload match videos, micro-blogging site Twitter allows live tweets from commentators, spectators, TV audiences and other users. Twitter brings about an integration of the cell-phone and web platform, through its many mobile-tweeting applications, allowing users to seamlessly exchange information on the web through their mobile handsets. It is fast, immediate and highly effective, say social media experts.

On video sharing website YouTube, users can upload and share match videos and view highlights of the game. Besides, ICC World Cup 2011's official website in association with Yahoo! India — iccevents.yahoo.com — provides a one-stop online destination for proceedings of the Cup. Yahoo also hosts 'Commentweeter', which provides a single-page view of all Twitter updates on the event. Users can also shop through the site for ICC merchandise and official World Cup memorabilia.

ESPN, the official broadcaster of the tournament, is providing ball-by-ball action on the Web through its cricket portal Cricinfo. The site offers desktop widgets, which users can download, mobile applications for iPhone and Android handsets, a mobile site, a Facebook page and a Twitter handle through which live scores and stats can be obtained. Cricinfo's 'Fantasy Cricket League' lets you experience nail-biting moments of the Cup, and gives you an opportunity to compete and win prizes.

As cricket euphoria sweeps the nation, youth brands like Pizza Hut and Adidas have also cashed in on the cricket frenzy through innovative social media campaigns. Gaurav Hajela, social media consultant, Pathfyynder Solutions says, "Just as retail vies for footfalls, social media vies for clicks and hits. Providing live updates and trivia on your site is just an excuse to engage your prospective consumer."

In the last three months, Pizza Hut witnessed a 300% growth in its 'Pizza Hut Celebrations' page on FB, where users can print a voucher to avail a free meal in any Pizza Hut outlet, every time a batsman crosses 99 runs. Anup Jain, director — marketing, Pizza Hut India says, "Our FB page has crossed the 1- million mark and with our World Cup campaign, we look to establish ourselves as a youth brand on the web."

On the other hand, the 'adidascricket' fan page on FB has over 1.7 lakh fans and continues to grow. Tweets of Adidas brand ambassadors, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, are streamed and made visible on the page. It also contains interesting games, live updates, trivia and the first ever fantasy league on FB.

FinancialExpress

ICC World Cup 2011: Kiwis looking to turn the corner against kenya

New Zealand, semifinalists in two of the previous three World Cups, hope to at least replicate - if not better - those performances as they take on Kenya in their opening Group A fixture of the 2011 edition in Chennai on Sunday.

The Kiwis are expected to comfortably win more due to the dumps that Kenyan cricket is in rather than their own obvious all-round superiority.

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori said his team will look to make a fresh start at the World Cup after a harrowing run in recent One-Day Internationals.

The Black Caps have lost 14 of their last 16 one-dayers, leading to doubts about their ability to lift their game in testing sub-continental conditions.

"I hope we can look at the World Cup as a fresh start. Our guys have the ability to bounce back. I prefer to look ahead rather than dwell on the past." Vettori said.

New Zealand comfortably defeated Kenya by 148 runs the only time they have played before, in the 2007 World Cup. In 2003, the Kiwis forfeited their World Cup match in Nairobi due to security concerns.

But New Zealand don't want to take the Kenyans lightly. "The hardest thing about playing a qualifier is that you do not see much of them. Some of their players will be a bit of a surprise. You prepare may be after seeing them on television. It adds its own challenge but that shouldn't matter. We have to turn up to play well and win," Vettori noted.

The Kiwis qualified for the penultimate round in 1999 and 2007 to underline their potential, but for all that, they have never looked a side capable of winning the Cup and it could be no different this time around.

Lack of consistency has been New Zealand's bugbear as their performance levels swing to the extremes. Yet, when the team clicks as one, the Kiwis have proven to be a handful, although these occasions have been rare and far in between.

Their top four batsmen in a reshuffled order - Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptil, Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder - have not fired in unison which is worrisome for the Black Caps although all are eminently capable of tall scores.

In bowling, the Kiwis have a profusion of seamers. In many ways, the tournament holds immense significance to New Zealand who are expected to qualify for the knock-out rounds from Group A. The luck of draw has provided New Zealand with a projected "soft" opener against the Kenyans whose fortunes revolve around their two senior players, Stephen Tikolo (39) and Thomas Odoyo (32), both set to player their fifth World Cup while Seren Waters, a Durham University student, represents their future hope.

Kenya may be rank outsiders but captain Jimmy Kamande warned rival teams that they can notch up an upset or two as they had done in the past.

"In this tournament, top 14 countries in the world are competing and nobody should be taken lightly. The results will talk about our performance at the end of the day, Kamande said.

"We are going to play our brand of cricket that we know best. In all our matches, we are geared up to get good results. We are well organised and prepared. We will enjoy ourselves and not to copy any team," he added.

ICC World Cup 2011: Approaching milestones

Dhaka: Here are the milestones can be achieved during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

# Sachin Tendulkar, with 97 hundreds in 622 games - 51 in Tests and 46 in ODIs - needs just three more during the forthcoming World Cup to complete a century of international hundreds.

# Ricky Ponting and Sourav Ganguly have registered three hundreds each as captain in the World Cup. Ponting, in case of a hundred, would be the first to register four centuries as captain.

# Ponting is on the verge of becoming the first captain to aggregate 1,000 runs in the World Cup. His present tally is 954 runs at an average of 59.62 in nineteen innings (22 games). Apart from three hundreds, he has recorded five fifties. The next best aggregate as captain in the World Cup is held by New Zealand's Stephen Fleming - 882 (ave.36.75), including two hundreds and four fifties, in 27 matches.

# Tendulkar already holds a record for registering most fours (189) in the history of the World Cup. With eleven fours during the 2011 competition, he would be the first to reach a tally of 200 fours.

# Tendulkar, having played five successive World Cup tournaments between 1992 and 2007, would be emulating Javed Miandad's feat of appearing in six World Cup competitions in succession since the inaugural edition i.e. between 1975 to 1996.

# Tendulkar, with an aggregate of 1796 (ave.57.93), including four hundreds and 13 fifties, in 36 games, needs 204 runs to become the first batsman to amass 2,000 runs in the World Cup.

# Ricky Ponting is all set to establish a record for most appearances in the World Cup.  At present the record for most appearances is held jointly by Glenn McGrath and Ponting. Both have played 39 games each between 1996 and 2007.

# Jacques Kallis (923 at an average of 51.27 in 29 games) requires 77 runs to become the second South African to complete 1,000 runs in the World Cup - a feat achieved only by Herschelle Gibbs - 1067 (ave.56.15) in 25 matches.

# Australia have played 29 consecutive games between May 27, 1999 and April 28, 2007 without losing - a record at the World Cup. In case of just one win in the 2011 edition, Australia would be the first team to play 30 successive games without losing. No other team has even played ten games  in succession without losing. Australia's said tally includes 22 games  in succession won by them between June 20, 1999 and April 28, 2007. (West Indies have the next best record - 9 wins between June 7, 1975 and June 23, 1979 under Clive Lloyd's captaincy.

# Shivnarine Chanderpaul (856 at an average of 40.76 in 26 matches) is likely to become the third West Indian to complete 1,000 runs in the World Cup.  Brian Lara holds a West Indian record with 1225 runs at an average of 42.24, including two centuries and seven fifties, in 34 matches. Vivian Richards had aggregated 1013 at an average of 63.31 in 23 matches, including three centuries and five fifties.

# Muttiah Muralitharan (53 wickets at 19.69 runs apiece in 31 matches) has an opportunity to overtake Glenn McGrath's tally of 71 wickets (ave.18.19) in 39 matches and to establish a record in the World Cup.

# Ponting, the only captain to enjoy a cent per cent record, having won all the 22 world cup games, is likely to overtake Stephen Fleming's tally of 27 matches as captain.

# Tendulkar's seventeen fifty-plus innings - four centuries and thirteen fifties - in 36 matches is a record in the World Cup. In case of just three fifty-plus innings, he would be the first to register twenty fifty or more innings in the World Cup.