ICC extends T20 squad deadline

The ICC has extended the deadline for naming the World Twenty20 squads, although the chances of Kevin Pietersen being included for England remain very slim.

The original deadline was Saturday but boards have now been given until August 24 to submit their 15-man lists for the tournament which begins on September 18, after the ICC received requests "from several of its members".

It is understood that the ECB was one of the boards who asked about the possibility of an extension with the ICC but that was to avoid a clash with the final Test against South Africa which starts on Thursday. The ECB was also believed to be happy to abide by the Saturday deadline if required.

Sri Lanka, who are currently in the midst of the SLPL, are another country who requested an extension as their domestic Twenty20 tournament will help determine selection for the World Twenty20.

It is now expected that England will name their squad on Tuesday, following the conclusion of the Test series, although the party, it is believed, was decided during a selection meeting at Edgbaston last week.

Although Pietersen offered an apology to the ECB on Tuesday night for what he termed 'provocative' text messages to South African players it was met by a cool response from the management and Andrew Strauss. His apology followed the YouTube video on Saturday night when he made himself available for all international cricket having previously retired from limited-overs cricket which led to him being unavailable for Twenty20.

"The truth is a lot has happened over the last seven days," Strauss said. "The England team has been in the news for the wrong reasons. We all want to move forward but there are some underlying issues on trust and respect that don't get dealt with over night and it's going to take quite a long time to overcome those."

Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, said lots of negotiations remained. "We are in receipt of Kevin's apology, but further discussions need to take place to establish whether it is possible to regain the trust and mutual respect required to ensure all parties are able to focus on playing cricket and to maintain the unity of purpose that has served us so well in recent years."

Five countries - Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Bangladesh - have already named their squads for the World Twenty20.