Canada, Netherlands lose warm-up matches

Canada became the latest of the teams that will compete in the World Cup to lose a warm-up match. They went down to Northerns by a massive 217-run margin. With hundreds for Martin van Jaarsveld and AB de Villiers, Northerns rattled up 365 for two in their fifty overs before the Canadians were bowled out for 148.

A similar fate befell the Netherlands at the hands of Western Province. The Dutch side were bowled out for 130 with another three wickets for Quinton Friend who embarrassed the South Africans on Saturday. Lloyd Ferreira with 83 led the provincial team to a ten-wicket victory.

Australia's campaign received an early boost as Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie came through with flying colours. Warne took two wickets while McGrath and Gillespie collected one each as the tournament favourites crushed North West by 151 runs. Australia racked up 280 in their 50 overs before dismissing the locals for 129.

A confident century from Herschelle Gibbs helped South Africa get their preparations back on track with a seven-wicket win over Boland. South Africa, defeated by domestic champions Western Province on Saturday, produced a much more accomplished performance. After Boland posted 205 for nine from their 50 overs, the South Africans reached their target with nearly 10 overs to spare.

The Indians could thank scores of 66 from both Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh to take them to 265 for seven in their fifty overs. KwaZulu-Natal were 69 for two from 18 overs when the rain came to wash out the match.

The New Zealanders had a good win against Easterns. Batting first, the visitors reached a modest 208 for seven in 50 overs thanks to 51 not out from Chris Harris. Jacob Oram then took five for 35 as Easterns were bowled out for 130 in 36 overs.

Younis Khan made exactly 50 before being run out as the Pakistanis reached 264 for seven against Gauteng. The weather intervened to set Gauteng 148 from 30 overs, but they fell 24 runs short of the Duckworth/Lewis target.

Sri Lanka had no problems overcoming Griqualand West in Kimberley. Dilhara Fernando took three wickets as the hosts made just 163 for eight off their 36 overs, and Marvan Atapattu (76*) then masterminded a clinical chase, completing an unbroken century partnership with Mahela Jayawardene (47*) to see Sri Lanka home with six overs to spare.

The Kenyans had an encouraging win against Border by 11 runs. Hitesh Modi (87) and Steve Tikolo (52) helped them to a respectable 210 all out before the home side were restricted to 199 for nine in their 50 overs.