World Twenty20 looms large

The countdown to the ICC World Twenty20 is on after all 12 countries named their squads.

Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town will be the venues for the inaugural event, which runs from September 11-24.

The nine Test nations, along with Zimbabwe and associate sides Scotland and Kenya, will compete for the honour of being crown the first world champions in the shortest form of the game.

Tournament director Steve Elworthy said: “Looking down through the squad lists it is very exciting to see the quality of talent that will be on show during the event.

“Every single team has potential match-winners within its ranks and I have no doubt that we are going to see some amazing performances during the two weeks of the tournament.

“Players love performing in front of big crowds and so it is very encouraging for us to see how fast the tickets are selling.

“The Twenty20 format has been very successful on a domestic level in South Africa in recent seasons so it is no real surprise that people will want to go to watch the world’s top players in action.

“The countdown to the ICC World Twenty20 is very much on now and I get the sense that there is a real momentum building now and it has already caught the public’s imagination here in South Africa.”

Squad lists

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hodge, Bradley Hogg, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson.

Hilfenhaus was called up as a replacement for the injured Shaun Tait.

Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Aftab Ahmed, Nadif Chowdhury, Shakib Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Alok Kopali, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mushfiqur Rahim, Ziaur Rahman, Syed Rasel, Abdur Razzak, Farhad Reza, Zunaed Siddique, Nazim Uddin, Mahmud Ullah.

England: Paul Collingwood (captain), Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Andrew Flintoff, James Kirtley, Darren Maddy, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Chris Schofield, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Jeremy Snape, Vikram Solanki, Chris Tremlett, Luke Wright.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Ajit Agarkar, Piyush Chawla, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Joginder Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Sri Sreesanth, Robin Uthappa.

Kenya: Steve Tikolo (captain), Rajesh Bhudiya, Jimmy Kamande, Tanmay Mishra, Lameck Ngoche, Nehemiah Ngoche, Alex Obanda, Collins Obuya, David Obuya, Thomas Odoyo, Peter Ongondo, Elijah Otieno, Morris Ouma, Ondik Suji, Hiren Varaiya.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Shane Bond, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Hopkins, Chris Martin, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Bradley Scott, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Lou Vincent.

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (captain), Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Asif, Salman Butt, Umar Gul, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq, Rao Iftikhar, Younis Khan, Imran Nazir, Abdul Rehman.

Scotland: Ryan Watson (captain), Fraser Watts, Dougie Brown, John Blain, Gavin Hamilton, Navdeep Poonia, Gregor Maiden, Neil McCallum, Qasim Sheikh, Colin Smith, Craig Wright, Dewald Nel, Gordon Drummond, Ross Lyons, Majid Haq.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Gulam Bodi, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Kemp, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Dilhara Fernando, Hasantha Fernando, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Sanath Jayasuriya, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Jehan Mubarak, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumara Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Gayan Wijekoon.

West Indies: Ramnaresh Sarwan (captain), Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Narsingh Deonarine, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Runako Morton, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith.

Zimbabwe: Prosper Utseya (captain), Gary Brent, Justice Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Keith Dabengwa, Tymsen Maruma, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Johnson Marumisa, Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Vusimusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Brendon Taylor, Shaun Williams.