ICC confirms replacement of players in Oz, Indian squads for WC

New Delhi, Feb 8 (ANI): The International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed that the 'Event Technical Committee' of the 2011 World Cup has approved Jason Krejza as a replacement player for the injured Nathan Hauritz and Callum Ferguson for Michael Hussey in the Australian squad, and also approved the replacement of Praveen Kumar with S Sreesanth in the Indian squad for the tournament.

The confirmations were conveyed to Cricket Australia (CA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on behalf of the event technical committee.

Krejza will replace Hauritz, who is suffering from a shoulder injury; Ferguson comes in for Hussey who has been ruled out with a hamstring injury, while Sreesanth replaces Kumar, who is suffering from an elbow injury.

The three injured players were declared unfit by their respective boards and, as a result, CA and the BCCI chose to seek replacements for the entire event.

The 28-year-old Krejza made his ODI debut when he took two wickets against England in Perth earlier this week, while Ferguson (26) has previously played 28 ODIs for Australia.

Sreesanth (28) has played 51 ODIs for his country and has taken a total of 75 wickets in that time.

Any injury-based replacement requires a written submission to the Event Technical Committee along with a diagnosis from a medical practitioner as to the extent of the injury. Once replaced, a player cannot return to the squad.

As with all players in the tournament, the eligibility of a replacement player is subject to approval by the ICC before that player can be officially added to the squad.

The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 consists of David Richardson (ICC, chairman), Prof. Ratnakar Shetty (Tournament Director), Campbell Jamieson (IDI representative), Anil Kumble (host nominee), David Lloyd (independent nomination) and Sanjay Manjrekar (independent nomination).

Australia takes on Zimbabwe in its first match in the tournament at Ahmedabad on February 21, while India will face Bangladesh in the tournament opener at Mirpur on February 19. (ANI)