Cricket: Lara named vice captain for World XI

SYDNEY - West Indies batsman Brian Lara has been named vice captain for the International Cricket Council's (ICC) World XI.

Lara replaces Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar who had to withdraw after undergoing elbow surgery.

Team director Sunil Gavaskar said: "We are very pleased to have nominated Brian Lara as our vice-captain." He was speaking from Melbourne, where the World XI will play a warm-up match against Victoria on Sunday.

"He has tremendous experience and will be able to provide invaluable support to our captain Shaun Pollock."

England all rounder Andrew Flintoff and New Zealand left arm spinner Daniel Vettori have been left out of the 12-man squad for the match, which will be played at a suburban ground in Melbourne.

"Andrew has played a lot of cricket lately at a high intensity so it didn't seem necessary to rush him into a game only two days after he has arrived in Melbourne," said Gavaskar.

"Daniel is unlucky to miss out in this game but after tomorrow there are still two further training sessions before the first one-day international on Wednesday."

World XI (from): Shaun Pollock (captain), Brian Lara (vice-captain), Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Rahul Dravid, Chris Gayle, Jacques Kallis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Makhaya Ntini, Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara, Virender Sehwag.

- REUTERS