Selectors prepare to name World XI squads

The names of the 30 Test and one-day international players who will make up the squads for the ICC World XI sides to take on Australia in October will be announced in early May.

The panel of selectors - the chairman Sunil Gavaskar, Mike Atherton, Sir Richard Hadlee, Clive Lloyd, Jonty Rhodes and Aravinda de Silva - will choose from the cream of the world's cricketing talent in nominating players for the matches.

"It's a fantastic brief to be able to pick from the greatest players in world cricket to take on Australia," said Gavaskar. "I'm sure that every cricket fan would love to be in the selectors' position, discussing and debating the merits of so many outstanding players. The challenge will be in narrowing our choices down to just 30 players with so much talent to choose from for both squads."

Players from the nine Test-playing countries and the ten which have ODI status will come under selectorial consideration. Following the announcement of the initial squads of 30, the selectors will meet again in early July to reduce these down to groups of 20. Captains and vice-captains will also be announced then.

The inaugural ICC Super Series, sponsored by Johnnie Walker, will involve three one-day internationals in Melbourne's Telstra Dome, and a six-day "Super Test" at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The final teams of 13 for the Super Test and 14 for the ODIs, plus management and coaching appointments, will be confirmed in August. Combined prizemoney and match payments for the one-day series will be US$1,254,000, while the total money available for the Super Test will be US$1,390,000. The matches will be accorded official Test and ODI status.

The challenge awaiting the ICC World XI teams is to succeed where national sides have mostly failed. Australia have not lost a home Test series since 1993, and are undefeated in a one-day series since 2002.