Teams to represent England and Zimbabwe in the inaugural Double Wicket World Cup cricket tournament in April in the West Indies were announced by officials on Tuesday.

In the double wicket form of cricket, two players comprise a team.

Andrew Flintoff and Adam Hollioake will represent England and Heath Streak and Grant Flower will turn out for Zimbabwe, said the St Lucia Tourist Board, organisers of the April 4-6 tournament.

Officials were continuing negotiations to finalise pairs to represent India, Sri Lanka and World Cup champions Australia.

Other teams already announced in the tournament are Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), Carl Hooper and Chris Gayle (West Indies) and Chris Cairns and Jacob Oram (New Zealand).

Prize money totaling US$175,000 is at stake in the tournament, organised as part of the tourist board's sports programme. The winning team is to receive US$65,000 and the remaining money is to be divided among the other teams, including the runners-up.

The tournament will be held annually for the next 10 years as part of plans to boost sports tourism in the West Indies, the tourist board said.

Indian cricket board (BCCI) president Jagmohan Dalmiya said that the players have done the country proud by reaching the World Cup final in South Africa where they lost to Australia by 125 runs.

Dalmiya told reporters at a joint press conference along with skipper Sourav Ganguly in Mumbai on Tuesday, after the team's arrival from Johannesburg, that the team performed exceptionally well and that he was more than satisfied with the way they played.

"The team played like a unit and won most of their matches convincingly. Unfortunately they had a bad day against the world champions Australia in the final but I would like to give full credit to Ganguly for handling the team well and to the team members for showing fighting spirit till the end," Dalmiya added.

Ganguly insisted that he would stand by the decision to put the opposition in to bat first. "There was dampness on the pitch and I knew there was something for the seam bowlers. However, we had one off day which shattered our dreams of winning the Cup," he said.

"Now we will have to leave the disappointment behind and concentrate on the triangular series in Bangladesh from April 10 as there is always a next time to win the Cup", the stylish southpaw added.

The captain of Bangladesh's cricket team, that performed poorly at the World Cup, has offered to resign.

Khaled Masud submitted his resignation letter to the Bangladesh Cricket Board on Sunday, the Prothom Alo daily reported.

Masud, who has been the national team captain since November 2001, cited 'personal and family reasons' for his decision to quit, the paper said quoting unidentified BCB officials.

Masud's resignation came ahead of a tri-nation limited-overs international tournament Dhaka plans to host in April featuring Bangladesh, India and South Africa.

Bangladesh, the newest Test playing nation, has not won any test or limited-over international match under the leadership of Masud, who is a wicketkeeper-batsman.

Masud and BCB officials were not immediately available for comment.

Bangladesh has already fired its Pakistani cricket coach, Mohsin Kamal, and is looking for a replacement.

The success of the one-and-a-half month long World Cup has clearly marked South Africa as a bright spot on the tourism map.

Speaking at the end of the tournament, SA Tourism CEO Cheryl Carolus said she was especially pleased with the high volume of tourists from India, where SA Tourism has now launched a drive to attract more visitors.

More than 85,000 tourists were reported to have watched the matches and more than 1.2 billion saw the action live on television with most of the eye-balls coming from South Asia. The maximum influx of cricket tourists was from India.

Carolus claimed the visitors were extremely impressed by the warm welcome and hospitality accorded by the South Africans and said the euphoria would continue for quite some time.

South Africa has been already benefited hugely, economically and through the fantastic global awareness created from hosting the Cricket World Cup, she said.

Thousands of fans paid homage to Australia's triumphant World Cup cricketers as they arrived home from South Africa after winning the one-day crown for the third time.

Under a sunny autumn sky, the 15 players were feted in Forrest Place, in the heart of the Western Australian capital Perth, by a colorful crowd estimated by police at about 5,000.

Thunderous cheering echoed across the city as Australian captain Ricky Ponting stepped forward on to a stage to raise the trophy aloft.

Tired, but elated, the players waved back to the crowd in the only public appearance to be made by the team in Australia before they go into training for a four-Test tour of the West Indies.

Western Australian Premier Geoff Gallop told the team they were the pride of Australia after glittering green and gold streamers rained down on the squad.

Ponting said he believed Australia could win the World Cup for a record-breaking third time in a row in 2007. "There is no reason why we cannot win again in four years," Ponting said.

The West Bengal government has decided to felicitate the skipper of the Indian cricket team, Sourav Ganguly, for the team's superb performance in the 2003 World Cup.

Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee told reporters at the state secretariat in Kolkata that though the date for the ceremony was yet to be fixed, the government would organise a felicitation function soon.

"I have been trying to contact Sourav at South Africa but we had not been able to reach him. We will finalise the date with him soon," Bhattacharjee said on Tuesday.

The chief minister said he would call up Ganguly at his residence to congratulate him on the team's performance.