ICC approve Martin as Tuffey's replacement

The ICC's Technical Committee has approved Chris Martin as the replacement for injured New Zealand bowler Daryl Tuffey in the New Zealand squad for the World Cup.

Tuffey injured his right arm during New Zealand's Group C match against Canada and was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup after an ultrasound revealed the problem. The injury is in the same shoulder that forced Tuffey out of international cricket for two years.

Martin last played a one-day game in January 2006 against Sri Lanka at Napier. But he did get nine games in New Zealand's domestic one-day tournament and took 13 wickets at 24.53 as Auckland won the State Shield. In the final, Martin took his season's best figures of 3 for 7.

The ICC has so far approved replacements for five players during the World Cup. Apart from Martin, Stuart Clark replaced Brett Lee, ruled out with an ankle injury, in the Australian squad while Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Abdul Razzaq were replaced by Azhar Mahmood, Mohammad Sami and Yasir Arafat.

The Technical Committee includes David Richardson, an ICC representative, Michael Atherton and Rameez Raja, as independent nominations, as well as Chris Dehring, the chief executive of the World Cup organisation.

New Zealand's next match is against West Indies in Antigua on March 29 - the first of their Super 8 matches.