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Windies take on Gloucestershire

The West Indies cricketers, hopeful of getting back the winning habit in the world's premier limited-overs competition, will have their first outing today.

Brian Lara's men take on Gloucestershire at Bristol in the first of three rehearsals carded between today and the start of the tournament on Friday. But the West Indians, who are without the experience of the now retired Carl Hooper, are likely to find themselves up against a more formidable foe in the weather.

West Indies' coach Malcolm Marshall said the team practised on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but the players were kept indoors yesterday as rain fell for most of the day.

He said more rain is forecast for today, making the possibility of play in tune-up game doubtful.

``We got in a fair amount of practice. The players looked quite good in the nets. Obviously, we didn't get a chance to practise yesterday because of the weather,'' Marshall said on CANARadio sports programme.

``Concerning today's game, we can't say much. We got to wait and see how things go if we get a chance to play, if not, we have to resort to indoors,'' added Marshall.

Marshall said the players are not under any pressure as they were not among the favourites to win the World Cup.

``We all know what we are here to do. We are quite confident that we can win. Obviously, we got the favourites in South Africa to win the tournament as well as Australia. A lot of people are also saying Pakistan and England.

``We are not under any undue pressure. Obviously, from a betting point of view, we will not be one of the favourites but we know what we are capable of. We had a very good series (against Australia) in the Caribbean,''''Marshall noted.

``We have a lot of guys who played here before in English conditions and we will take it game by game,'' added Marshall.

The West Indies have left out veteran fast bowler Courtney Walsh, young paceman Reon King, off-spinner Nehemiah Perry and captain Brian Lara from the team to play in the warm-up game against Gloucestershire if rain allows play.

At Leicester, India's batsmen struggled to 219 for seven off their 50 overs, with their star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, back in action after nine weeks out injured, giving an unimpressive batting display.

Tendulkar, regarded as the world's best batsman but on the sidelines with a back injury since early March, was dismissed for just four.

The Indian bowlers were however denied a chance to show their form as heavy rain during the break forced the match to be abandoned.

India, who open their World Cup campaign against favourites South Africa at Hove on May 15, play two more warm-up matches against Yorkshire tomorrow and Nottinghamshire on Tuesday.

At Hove, South Africa were expecting to take the field against English county side Sussex. But a steady drizzle wrecked their hopes of action at the same venue where they play their first World Cup match against India on May 15.

Their next warm-up opportunity comes against Kent today, followed by an outing against Middlesex on May 11.

At Canterbury, England's game against Kent was reduced to 38 overs and the batsmen struggled to dominate in the difficult conditions.

England open the World Cup on Friday when they take on reigning champions Sri Lanka at Lord's.

Their warm-up campaign continues against Essex today and Hampshire on Tuesday.

The defending champions' Eric Upashantha upstaged his better-known team-mates as Sri Lanka impressed in the field against Northamptonshire.

The beefy seamer grabbed three for 33 in nine overs as Northamptonshire were dismissed for 199 with two balls of their 50 overs remaining.

Sri Lanka were, however, denied useful batting practice by heavy rain which forced the abandonment of the match.

Sri Lanka have further warm-up outings against Nottinghamshire tomorrow and against Leicestershire on May 11. Zimbabwe reached 45 for one in 10 overs against Worcestershire before their game was abandoned but their request to replay the rain-hit practice match was denied by tournament organisers.

They have not played for nearly a month and there are only two more warm-up matches before they face Kenya in their first World Cup fixture at Taunton next weekend.