Team notes

But the left-hander had a net at Bristol’s County Ground on Friday and, if there is no reaction overnight, he will have another one on Saturday when a final decisi on on his fitness will be made.

Team manager Clive Lloyd said: "We will wait and see how Brian is before selecting our team. There is also a doubt over Stuart Williams, who has a leg strain." Veteran fast bowler Courtney Walsh, however, has overcome a minor knee injury and should be fit to play on the ground he graced for 14 years as a county player for Gloucestershire.

Brinkley relishes Scots’ Cup debut

WORCESTER: Kilted Aussie’ James Brinkley will have a foot in both camps when Scotland make their World Cup debut against Australia on Sunday.

Brinkley,Scottish-born but Australian-educated, came to Britain four years agoto try and launch a career in English county cricket as an all-rounder, first at Worcestershire and then at Essex. Brinkley is now concentrating on teaching after failing to establish himself asa professional cricketer. He seemed set to quit the game for good until he was lured back.

on an amateur basis by Scottish coach Jim Love in time for the World Cup. The Scots, who have yet to play an official one-dayer, got into the World Cup by finishing third in the 1997 ICC Trophy. They have limited their ambitions on Sunday to trying to be competitive – for most of the game at least.

Volatile giants clash in opener

BRISTOL: Two of cricket’s most attractive but also most volatile teams clash head-on in their opening match of the 1999 World Cup when Pakistan and West Indies meet on Sunday.

Brian Lara’s batting genius pitted against veteran bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis may grab the headlines, but the teams each contain aplayer who could be a dominant force in world cricket in the new millennium. Shoaib Akhtar is the fastest bowler in the World Cup and he is now refining his technique, learning from Akram and Younis, both superb technicians in the art of swing bowling. The revelation of the tournament could be 20-year-old Ricardo Powell, called in at the last minute to replace Carl Hooper who shocked selectors by pulling out of the West Indies squad and retiring from international cricket.

Powell has played only six first class games for Jamaica but gave the English a glimpse of what is to come on Wednesday when he made an impressive 53 from only 21 deliveries in a warm-up game against Surrey at The Oval.