Botha has been appointed South Africa's Twenty20 Skipper

Johan Botha appointed South Africa's T20 skipper after Graeme Smith resigned from the job earlier in the week.

"Johan was the common choice of the Board and we have every confidence that he will do an excellent job leading up to the next edition of the ICC World Twenty20 in 2012," Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola said.

Johan Botha has had previous captaincy experience, having stood in for Smith during South Africa's tour of Australia in 2009 for the ODIs. He was successful in his stint, and led South Africa to victory in the series.

"Johan has an excellent record as a skipper," selection convener Andrew Hudson said. "He was an inspirational captain when he stood in for Smith in the ODI series victory in Australia in 2009. His appointment is part of the procedure of refreshing our Pro20 squad and also deciding whether to follow the route of having different skippers for different formats of the game."

Botha said he had enjoyed his earlier experience of the captaincy was hopeful he would do well enough so that when the time came, he would be considered for the ODI captaincy as well. Graeme Smith has said that he will resign from the ODI captaincy after the 2011 World Cup.

Smith set to quit as SA's T20 skipper

South Africa Captain Graeme Smith is set to quit as South Africa's Twenty20 captain after recent injuries seem to have hastened the conclusion to reduce his workload in order to concentrate on prolonging a test career that has yielded 7,170 runs at an average of 50.49, a source who declined to be identified told Reuters on Tuesday.

Smith, 29, who has captained his country since 2003, is due to hold a news conference in Johannesburg at 1100 local time on Wednesday.

It also seems likely the opening batsman will step down as one-day skipper in the near future, possibly after next year's 50-over World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Smith has been concerned about the lack of a sequence plan and has spoken on a number of occasions about his desire to finish his international career by playing as "one of the boys" under a different captain.

Sachin's form may help us win CL T20: JP Duminy

Skipper Sachin Tendulkar has mysterious ability to inspire his team-mates to perform several notches up and that will make a massive impact on Mumbai Indians' campaign in next month's Champions League T20 in South Africa, feels batsman Jean-Pual Duminy.

Duminy believes that if Sachin Tendulkar continues with his menacing form of this year's IPL, MI will go all the way through.

"He (Sachin) clearly leads from the front and that lifts his team-mates. He is very inspiring and exceptional skipper. If he fires, others also perform better by another 20 per cent.

"He has been in fine form in the IPL and for India. Hope he does the same for us to win this tournament," Duminy told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of Champions League Twenty20 here.

"Sachin helps everybody out and he tries to engage every player. I get along with him very well and had discussions on batting and other cricketing things," said the 26-year-old batsman, who was the inaugural CLT20's top scorer for Cape Cobras but will play for Mumbai Indians this time.

Shane Warne looking forward to IPL-4

Australian spinner Shane Warne expressed his willingness to play in the 4th edition of the Indian Premier League 2011.

The Rajasthan Royals captain, who lead his team to a title win in the inaugural edition 2008, had a three-year contract with his t20 franchise which expired after the 3rd edition.

Although a fresh auction will be held in September for IPL-4, the Australian star is not in favour of IPL franchisees retaining any player for the next season.

Warne, who is currently in England, said he is looking forward to play the in the Twenty20 cricket league in India for one more year.

"It's great here in England, love coming over for the so called summer !!! Hahaha. P.S: Yes will play 1 more year. I'm looking forward to IPL 4!," he wrote on his twitter page.

Warne has been uncertain about featuring in the IPL and had earlier described his chances of playing in next year's event as fifty-fifty.

Champions League Twenty20, 2010 Schedule

Date	Match Details	Time ISD	Place
Sep 10	MI v Lions, 1st Match, Group B Lions won by 9 runs	21:00	Johannesburg*
Sep 11	Warriors v Wayamba, 2nd Mat, Group A Warriors won by 7 wkts	17:00	Port Elizabeth
Sep 11	Central Districts v CSK, 3rd Mat, Group A CSK won by 57 runs	21:00	Durban*
Sep 12	Lions v South Australia, 4th Mat, Group B South Aus won by 11 runs	17:00	Centurion
Sep 12	RCB v Guyana, 5th Mat, Group B RCB won by 9 Wickets	21:00	Centurion*
Sep 13	Victoria v Warriors, 6th Mat, Group A Warriors won by 28 runs	21:00	Port Elizabeth*
Sep 14	MI v South Australia, 7th Mat, Group A S.Aus won by 5 wickets	21:00	Durban*
Sep 15	Central Districts v Victoria, 8th Mat, Group A Victoria won by 7 wickets	17:00	Centurion
Sep 15	CSK v Wayamba, 9th Mat, Group A CSK won by 97 runs	21:00	Centurion*
Sep 16	MI v Guyana, 10th Mat, Group B MI won by 31 runs	21:00	Durban*
Sep 17	RCB v South Australia, 11th Mat, Group B S.Aus won by 8 wickets	21:00	Durban*
Sep 18	Central Districts v Warriors, 12th Mat, Group A Warriors won by 6 wickets	17:00	Port Elizabeth
Sep 18	CSK v Victoria, 13th Mat, Group A Victoria won in super over	21:00	Port Elizabeth*
Sep 19	Lions v Guyana, 14th Mat, Group B Lions won by 9 wickets	17:00	Johannesburg
Sep 19	MI v RCB, 15th Mat, Group B MI won by 2 runs	21:00	Durban*
Sep 20	Victoria v Wayamba, 16th Mat, Group A Victoria won by 8 wickets	21:00	Centurion*
Sep 21	South Australia v Guyana, 17th Mat, Group B S.Aus won by 15 runs	17:00	Johannesburg
Sep 21	Lions v RCB, 18th Match, Group B RCB won by 6 wickets	21:00	Johannesburg*
Sep 22	Central Districts v Wayamba, 19th Mat, Group A Wayamba won by 74 runs	17:00	Port Elizabeth
Sep 22	CSK v Warriors, 20th Match, Group A CSK won by 10 runs	21:00	Port Elizabeth*
Sep 24	CSK v RCB, 1st semi-final	21:00	Durban*
Sep 25	South Australia v Warriors, 2nd semi-final	21:00	Centurion*
Sep 26	TBC v TBC, Final	21:00	Johannesburg*

* - Day Night Match

India tour not idyllic for Ashes preparation: Ponting

Australia captain Ricky Ponting fears that his country's forthcoming tour of India in October may obstruct their preparation for the Ashes series commencing in November 25 at Brisbane.

Ricky Ponting said that preferably, Australia should not play on dry and flat Indian pitches in the run-up to the Ashes series against arch-rivals England at home.

"If you were trying to sit down and map out your perfect preparation for an Ashes series or a home series it probably wouldn't be playing two Test matches in India," said Ponting.

"But you don't live in an ideal world. That's the way international cricket is these days," Ponting was quoted as saying by 'The Australian'.

Australia play two Tests followed by three one-day Matches during their India tour.

Talking about Australia's three-wicket defeat against Pakistan in the 2nd Test at Leeds, Ponting admitted that he had misjudged the batting situation after winning the toss.

"We were definitely playing catch-up from stumps day one. That's my responsibility, to get those sorts of things right and make those decisions," Ponting said.

Australia were bowled out by Pakistan for just 88 - their lowest total in 26 years - on the first day of the 2nd Test at Headingley, in a Test that also ended Pakistan's 15-year wait for a win over Australia.

Sachin deserves World Cup victory: Morrison

Sachin Tendulkar deserves a World Cup win under his belt but to realise this dream the batting icon wants players like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni to fire in the 2011 home event, says former New Zealand fast bowler Danny Morrison.

"Sachin Tendulkar, the master, deserves to have some sort of winners medal hanging round his neck but it's not all about him. Cricket is a tough game and it's also about whether Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni can carry for India. Can they do it for Sachin?," Morrison said at an ICC audio-cricket show.

The cricketer-turned-commentator also feels that India will be strong contenders to lift the ICC World Cup 2011.

"I think India has the best chance to lift the World Cup this time round. It has to be good for them playing on home turf. It adds pressure but that's part of hosting.

"You feel that India want something special to happen and this year I think you've got to go with the India team to follow the 1983 side led by Kapil Dev," said Morrison, who claimed 126 ODI wickets and 160 in Tests.

India will co-host the 2011 edition along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in February-March.